Zoho sets aside acquisition warchest of Rs 25 crore

 Zoho Corp, a Chennai-headquartered global provider of online software solutions, said on Monday that it has set aside an acquisition warchest of Rs 25 crore to acquire technology companies in coming months.

Zoho, which acquired a minority stake in Bengaluru-based Zentron Labs on Monday, said it will be keen to look at the Bangalore tech ecosystem for acquisition options.

“We were working with Zentron Labs for some time and acquired stake because we find synergy in the activities done by them. They wanted to associate with us because Zentron Labs will help them expand its R&D activities,” Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu said.

He said the company is in touch with other technology companies to acquire a stake.
“Zoho is really not a venture capital company. We are looking for partners who are working on niche technologies which will help us grow inorganically,” he said.

Zentron Labs specialises in machine vision, where cameras, images and computer vision algorithms are used to detect features in real world objects for appropriate action.

The company is scouting for stake in companies doing exemplary technology work, especially Internet algorithm technologies. “We find business opportunities in computational algorithms. It will help us process data relating to areas like traffic flow,” he said.
Zentron provides automation systems for processes that require visual checking.