Manthan Systems Secures Series B Financing From Fidelity International, IDG Ventures and DFJ ePlanet Ventures

By Manthan Systems, PRNE
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Manthan Plans to Use Funding to Target Leadership Position in Retail Business Intelligence & Analytics

BANGALORE, India and CHICAGO, November 19 - Manthan Systems, a leading provider of Business Intelligence and
Analytical solutions for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries
today announced that it has secured Series B funding. The investment, with a
funding of upto $15 million, was led by Fidelity International. Participation
by existing investors IDG Ventures India and DFJ ePlanet Ventures in this
recent round is an endorsement of Manthan's impressive growth and potential,
and the new paradigm Manthan is creating in Retail analytics.

As a result of this funding, Mr. Raj Dugar, Managing Director at FIL
Capital Advisors (India), Fidelity International's private equity advisory
company in India, has joined Manthan's board of directors.

"We believe Manthan is well positioned to make a significant impact on
the global retail landscape as the industry steps up value realization
through its usage of Business Intelligence and Analytics. Manthan's
best-in-class products address retailers' increasing need to compete on
analytics, currently a top priority for retailers worldwide. Under Atul
Jalan's
leadership, Manthan has the potential to be a major software products
company and we are excited to participate in its growth," said Mr. Dugar.

Mr. Atul Jalan, Founder & CEO, Manthan Systems said, "We believe Manthan
is uniquely positioned to deliver the analytical maturity and edge that most
retailers are aspiring to. Our confidence stems from our products'
capabilities and our unique deployment model that delivers on industry
leading ROI, and is reinforced by the market traction we are experiencing
today. Our charge for global leadership in the retail business intelligence
and analytics sector is best summed up as: '8Q21 - Eight Quarters to No. 1.'
We value the added experience and competence that the Fidelity team will
bring towards the achievement of this objective.

The funding would help fuel important investments in this direction,
particularly in augmenting our sales and delivery presence across key
markets, scaling our product organization -to match our growth, and also
capitalizing on suitable inorganic growth opportunities."

Manthan develops and markets a suite of software products and synergistic
services to global retailers enabling them to take data-driven business
decisions. The ARC suite comprises of products like Merchandising Analytics,
Finance Analytics, Customer Analytics, Supplier Collaboration & Analytics.
The Manthan BI platform delivers enterprise-wide analytics capability with
dramatically superior performance when compared with competitive options.
With a hybrid portfolio of products and services, Manthan is able to offer
end-to-end data warehousing and business intelligence capabilities to its
customers. Retailers have traditionally not leveraged their data rich
environment to drive decision making. Manthan provides retailers with the
tools they need to measure performance, pinpoint the source of exceptions and
understand the relationships between customer groups, products, promotions
and multiple channels. Businesses that have implemented Manthan's products
have seen improved margins, customer retention, inventory efficiency,
promotion effectiveness and wallet share while having reduced markdowns.

Manthan has deployed its out-of-the-box integrated retail intelligence
suite for several global retail and consumer packaged goods customers. "Many
leading global retail market players across all segments of retail have
adopted our solutions, leading to significant improvements in efficiency and
profitability, borne out of the intelligent, data driven decision making made
possible by our solutions." Atul concludes.

About Manthan Systems

Manthan Systems produces cutting edge analytic solutions for global
Retail and CPG organizations. Manthan's breakthrough solutions, under the ARC
product portfolio, transform the way retailers deploy, adopt and use
analytics for strategic advantage. ARC spans the entire spectrum of retail
decision making delivering role-based, advanced analytics and performance
management, with products for merchandising analytics, financial analytics,
customer analytics, supplier collaboration analytics and enterprise retail
BI. These award winning products provide a significant edge to a retailer's
analytical capability and maturity. The solution is delivered in a failsafe,
time-bound, cost-effective manner, and encourages enterprise-wide adoption of
BI and analytics. Manthan has deployed ARC across a wide range of retail
segments and formats, having transformed decision making for some of the
biggest names in retail across the globe.

About Fidelity International

Fidelity International has offices in over 20 countries across Europe and
Asia-Pacific. The venture capital arm of Fidelity International seeks to
actively invest predominately its own proprietary capital principally in
high-quality, high-growth companies across multiple sectors including
infrastructure, healthcare, technology financial services and manufacturing.
FIL Capital Advisors (India) Private Limited is Fidelity International's
private equity advisory company in India.

About IDG Ventures India

IDG Ventures India is a US$150 Million early-stage venture capital fund
investing in technology-related product and services companies. The fund is
part of IDG Ventures, a global network of technology venture funds with over
$3.7 billion under management, over 220 investee companies and 10 offices
across Asia and North America. IDG Ventures makes investments on behalf of
its Limited Partners, including its principal investor and sponsor,
International Data Group (IDG), the world's largest IT media company. By
combining the IDG platform - an unparalleled combination of global
publishing, market research (IDC), and conferences and exhibition resources -
with years of hands-on experience in early-stage company building, IDG
Ventures helps its investee companies understand their markets better and
penetrate them faster than their competition.

About DFJ ePlanet Ventures

DFJ ePlanet Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm with
offices in Silicon Valley, London, Bangalore, Beijing, and Seoul. ePlanet
Ventures has funded over 90 innovative high-growth companies world-wide,
including landmark deals Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Skype (sold to eBay for approx.
US$3B in 2005), and Focus Media (NASDAQ:FMCN). DFJ ePlanet is one of the
leaders in promoting the cross-border migration of technological innovation,
business models and entrepreneurship. The Firm has made investments in
sectors such as the Internet (consumer Internet, Internet services and
applications), wireless communications and applications, VoIP and other
broadband services, entertainment, semiconductor design, life sciences and
other emerging services sectors. The firm also seeks to make investments in
traditional, established industries where business-model improvements have
the power to create category-dominant companies in the world's fastest
growing markets.

    Media Contact Details:

    US, Canada & Latin America

    Frank Cuevas
    Director of Business Development
    Manthan Systems
    Contact No. - +1-847-925-5131
    Fax: +1-312-275-8558
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

    Western Europe & South Africa

    Steve Barker
    Vice President - UK Operations
    Manthan Systems
    Contact No. +44(0)797-088-6339
    Fax: +44(0)207-691-7480
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

    South East Asia & Australia

    Ajith Nayar
    Manager Marketing
    Manthan Systems
    Bangalore
    Contact No. +91-80-2299-0585
    Fax: +91-80-2299-0586
    Email Id - media.contact@manthansystems.com

Media Contact Details: US, Canada & Latin America: Frank Cuevas, Director of Business Development, Manthan Systems, Contact No. - +1-847-925-5131, Fax: +1-312-275-8558, Email Id - media.contact at manthansystems.com; Western Europe & South Africa: Steve Barker, Vice President - UK Operations, Manthan Systems, Contact No. +44(0)797-088-6339, Fax: +44(0)207-691-7480, Email Id - media.contact at manthansystems.com; South East Asia & Australia: Ajith Nayar, Manager Marketing, Manthan Systems, Bangalore, Contact No. +91-80-2299-0585, Fax: +91-80-2299-0586, Email Id - media.contact at manthansystems.com

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