vSplash Receives $2-million VC Funding from NRI

New York-based nonresident Indian Anil Bansal, who heads several technology businesses in the U.S. East Coast, including Essex Computer Systems, has pumped in $2-million as venture capital funds in vSplash.com, an integrated Web communications solution company that facilitates the creation of fully multimedia-enabled Websites.

Announcing this here today, Umesh Tibrewal, founder and chief executive officer of vSplash.com, also said his company has begun international operations from its global headquarters in Clifton, New Jersey, in January this year. Greg Bastug has been appointed the marketing chief of the company's U.S. operations.

Tibrewal, who will lead the U.S. operations, told IANS that the headquarters in New Jersey will look after all its business operations. This includes entering into strategic alliances -- both marketing and corporate.

The Indian operations, which will now be a 100 percent subsidiary of vSplash.com Inc., will be essentially development bases and also local marketing centers, he said.

Explaining the significance of the U.S. operations, Tibrewal said: "Over 125 million people use the Internet in the U.S., which forms over 50 percent of 240 million users around the world. But, only about seven percent of the 8 million small businesses in America have Websites, thereby, opening up myriad of business opportunities for a product like vSplash. We have already carved a niche in the Indian market by providing easy to use innovative Website building technology and excellent customer service. With our international headquarters in New Jersey we will be better able to address the huge market that exists abroad."

Commenting on the VC funding by Bansal, Tibrewal said that this "strategic tie up" will help our plans of growth in the age of Internet and "maintain our first mover advantage as we get on the expansion mode world wide." VSplash.com is planning to market its products in Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Bansal, who has more than 25 years experience in the U.S. market, will contribute significantly to vSplash.com's global operations. He brings in wide investor community contacts and investor relations experience to the board, he said.

The tie-up with Bansal came through much before the Union government announced sops relating to VC funding in the Budget 2000 in February. Tibrewal told IANS that Bansal's VC funding had come through in January itself and that the sops did not help much as vSplash.com is a "U.S.-centric" company. The funds, he said, will be used for global expansion.

Meanwhile, vSplash.com is also concentrating on expanding its market in India. It is holding talks with major Web-based companies for marketing tie-ups and expansion of their network across 15 cities in the country.

Tibrewal told IANS that vSplash.com is setting up a new engineering center with 40 employees in Jubilee Hills here, which will begin operations in 6-8 weeks. This will be the second such technology center in Hyderabad.

VSplash.com was considering offering stock options to its employees, currently about 40 in its first Hyderabad technology center. "We are already working on a report, which will be ready in a month's time. After legal formalities are worked out, it will be just a matter of time before we introduce it," Tibrewal told IANS.