India is a key market for Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson, and the firm plans to expand its research and development (R&D) base in the country, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Andres Vicente, Head of Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, speaking on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress 2024, said the company is stepping up the work on AI, Gen AI, and Network APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) at its R&D centres in India.

“India is one of the key markets for Ericsson across the world, and we feel really proud of what we have achieved so far. We have been manufacturing in India since 1994,” he said.

The combination of high-performance, programmable networks and network APIs, along with a strong community of developers, will lead to significant growth and innovation. This presents a major opportunity for India, given its active developer and startup scene, he said.

“We’re going to invest more in research and development around 6G, network APIs, and artificial intelligence,” Vicente said.

The R&D teams will focus on creating programmable/API capabilities to enable advanced use cases such as fraud detection, device management, and security, as well as more straightforward and secure network interfaces, a company statement said.

Ericsson currently has R&D sites in Chennai, Bengaluru and Gurugram that work across telecom domains spanning Transport, Packet Core, OSS, BSS, Cloud and advanced AI technologies.

“India is one of the front runners on 5G technology. And now is the moment of 5G adoption. India is second to none in infrastructure development in 5G. In only 22 months, India has been able to roll out almost half a million base stations providing more than 90% coverage within the country. This has moved India from position number 86 for network performance to position 16,” Vicente added.

Ericsson has, in the past announced partnerships with Bharti Airtel and Jio for their 5G rollout. Most recently, the company announced a 4G and 5G RAN (Radio Access Network) contract with Vi (Vodafone-Idea).

Private equity EQT backed-Indium Software, an AI-driven digital engineering firm has acquired a majority stake in Experion, a global product engineering services company. 

By utilising Experion’s end-to-end product engineering capabilities, Indium aims to help clients across sectors such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, automotive, and transportation. 

The acquisition’s financial details remain undisclosed. 

“The synergies and complementary capabilities of Indium and Experion will meaningfully amplify our ability to deliver superior digital and product engineering solutions to customers. We are confident of unlocking multiple new opportunities with both existing and new clients, and have set a revenue target of $150 million for the next financial year,” said Ram Sukumar, CEO and Co-founder, Indium, according to a press release.

Additionally, the acquisition will expand the Chennai-based firm’s geographic footprint and workforce to 5,000 employees globally.

Founded in 2006, Experion offers capabilities in product strategy, engineering, cognitive computing, platform engineering, and experience design. The firm helps clients design, develop, deploy, and maintain products and platforms with proprietary IP. 

“We are thrilled to be part of the EQT-Indium family, and Experion stands to benefit immensely from Indium’s market presence, diverse range of offerings and extensive experience working with global enterprises,” said Binu Jacob, CEO and Co-founder, Experion Technologies.

The company has also recorded a revenue growth of 30% CAGR over the past four years. Some of its clientele includes major enterprises in automotive, insurance, mining, and transportation industries, as well as ISVs and startups across North America, UK, Europe, Australia and Japan.

In December 2023, Hong Kong-based BPEA EQT Mid-Market Growth Fund acquired a majority stake in Indium Software from existing shareholders. 

Singapore-based investment firm Temasek has filed a notice with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to invest in Rebel Foods through its unit Jongsong Investments, The Arc reported, citing filings. 

According to multiple media reports, the Behrouz Biryani and Faasos owner is about to close a $100 million to $200 million funding round expected to be led by Temasek. The round will include both primary and secondary sales. 

Rebel Foods operates multiple cloud kitchen brands and is planning for its public debut in the next 12-18 months. The company runs Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani, Sweet Truth, and Faasos. It also undertook downsizing operations in January 2023, laying off 2% of its workforce. 

Rebel Foods, which has raised multiple rounds of debt financing, earns money through the sale of food through its owned stores and kitchens.

The company narrowed its after-tax losses by 40% to Rs 378 crore in the financial year ended FY24 compared to Rs 656 crore a year ago, according to filings made with the Registrar Of Companies. It clocked a 19% increase in operating revenue to Rs 1,420 crore as compared to Rs 1,195 crore it posted a year earlier.

Rebel Foods, founded in 2011, closed its fourth debt financing round in April 2023, after raising Rs 75 crore in debt funding from Northern Arc and Stride Venture.