California: California based desktop virtualization company Nivio has raised $21 million from Videocon and AEC Partners. The funds would be used for hiring fresh talent to strengthen its research and development efforts, expanding its product portfolio, and increasing the customer base.

“We are gearing up for a rise in demand by hiring more innovators in our offices, beefing up customer support and also working out the correct and easiest to understand marketing messages. Our painted picture is set on a target of $ 3 billion Valuation in three years, by October 2014 – and we expect to get there a lot sooner, if things continue to grow at the rate they are,” says Sachin Dev Duggal, Chief Wizard, nivio.

nivio has 120 employees (known as innovators) in U.S., India, Europe and Australia. It allows users to access a full Microsoft OS in the cloud, at anytime and anyplace, on any tablet, laptop, or PC, and offers a seamless syncing of files.

“The key ‘enticers’ for venture backing is often companies that have large scale growth potential, disruptive technology, a seasoned team and finally – a great vision. Investments in form of PE funding or direct investment, further strengthen our efforts to serve our customers better, tap into new markets, and continue developing the platform. Nivio was established with an aim to provide the benefits of the cloud not only to enterprises but every individual that can be touched and transformed by technology,” says Duggal.

According to Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon, there is a sec-change happening in the industry and across the board between consumer electronics and computing; he feels that nivio saw this vision long back. He is excited about the future opportunities for globalization and the strategic benefits to their existing products and services.

The company counts students, consumer, prosumers and small businesses, with less than 20 seats, amongst its major customers in U.S., India, Europe, and Australia. In India, it has a direct to market strategy and is also working with telecom majors such as Airtel. It has set a target of 50,000 desktop users and one million storage customers in India. It is also looking at the student community for numbers and is in talks with a few universities in this regard.

Talking about the competition, Duggal says, “When we started nivio in 2004, there was hardly any competition. Today, thanks to more players in the market, our job of educating people about cloud and its benefits has also reduced many-folds. We are now concentrating on providing the best cloud solutions at the least possible prices.”

nivio was co-founded in 2004 by Duggal and Saurabh Dhoot. Prior to co-founding nivio, Duggal was an Advisor and Consultant at Deutsche Bank, and was the CEO at SMX Corporation. He pursued his B.E. from Imperial College and Masters from MIT.