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AppLabs plans $6 million expansion in India and Europe
By siliconindia
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Friday, 06 July 2007, 19:30 IST
Hyderabad: With plans of an over 1,000-people testing facility and a training center in India and a testing facility in the UK, AppLabs, a quality management and software testing company, has decided on a $6-million expansion. The expansion plan also involves hiring 800 professionals this year to take its global headcount to 2,500.
The US-based company is also looking for acquisitions and considering an initial public offer (IPO) or the private equity route to raise about $40 million over a year to partly fund these acquisitions.
Shashi Reddi, Chairman and CEO, AppLabs, said, "The firm was looking to acquire companies operating in pharmaceuticals discovery and game testing. The size of the acquisitions would be around $100 million. Last year, the $70-million company acquired UK-based IS Integration for $37 million."
A series of testing facilities will be opened in the UK and Europe in the next 12 months. The testing facilities are a part of AppLabs global strategy to expand presence in Europe, Reddi said. The company is also hiring 100 employees every month and has plans to recruit 800 more during the financial year. Of these, 700 professionals would be placed at its Hyderabad facilities.
Launching the AppLabs new brand logo, Adam Ripley, Senior VP (marketing), said, "AppLabs target market would be Forbes 2000 companies."
The software testing market is estimated to be around $13 billion, of which the outsourced part contributes $3 billion with India?s share being about $1 billion.