The 54-year-old internet pioneer is gearing up for an IPO of his second company, Netcore Cloud Pvt., in the next year.
“We’ve had initial conversations with half-a-dozen bankers and the formal process will start in the next couple of months," Jain said over a Zoom call discussing the acquisition and the IPO. “We are targeting an IPO within the next nine to 12 months."
Mumbai-headquartered Netcore is a software-as-a-service company that focuses in client communication and engagement. It obtained a 90% share in Unbxd Inc., situated in San Mateo, California.
The deal would bolster Netcore's global customer base, which includes Pizza Hut, The Body Shop, and Tommy Hilfiger. The deal would also boost subscription revenues to $150 million yearly from around $100 million today, according to Jain.
"A huge global SaaS company out of India, very successful and controls India and new countries like Southeast Asia," said Jain, who owns around two-thirds of Netcore. Employees own the rest.
Jain earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from IIT Bombay. After two years in America, he returned to India to start his own business. In 1995, he sold IndiaWorld Communications in one of Asia's largest dotcom deals.
IndiaWorld provided news, cricket scores, Bollywood gossip, and search services to the country's tiny internet population. Before the dotcom bust, it was bought for $115 million by Sify Technologies Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed communications business.
Netcore, like IndiaWorld before it, hasn't raised any Venture capital financing.
The SaaS startup has over 5,000 global clients and sends over 15 billion marketing emails and messages monthly, according to the purchase statement.
Unbxd is its fourth acquisition, all funded by internal accruals. Netcore said the new acquisition will operate independently.