In a short span of its operations and despite the macro-economic challenges, Bangalore-based startup Happiest Minds Technologies has gained significant momentum with seven customers in its kitty till date and a strong pipeline. The clients which are from the U.S., U.K. and India, are spread across its three lines of businesses namely IT services, infrastructure & security and software product engineering.                 

“Of the seven customers, two of the deals are advisory-led, some of them are projects and some are long-term relationships,” Puneet Jetli, co-CEO of IT services, Happiest Minds told InformationWeek. He did not comment on the financials of the deals but said they are from a mix of industry verticals such as high-tech companies, consumer-oriented companies like leisure & entertainment, media, BFSI and services.          

The mid-sized company believes the global slowdown in the market does not impact its specific targets. “The fundamental value we plan to offer to the enterprise remains unaltered,” said Jetli. “First, we are a startup with an objective of achieving few millions of dollars in a specific time period, which is an insignificant share of the trillions of dollars in the global market pie. Second, we are convinced about our value proposition of disruptive technologies, which by default allows the end customers to be more disruptive and do more with less. And slowdown is the best time to test the waters,” he said.                          

Next year, the company plans to expand its presence to emerging geographies such as other parts of the Asia-Pacific ranging from the Middle East to Singapore, Australia, and other parts of Europe including Continental Europe and the Nordic countries. The company will at the same time be looking at growing its existing business in the U.S., its largest market. “Despite of what we hear in the media, the biggest markets are still in the U.S. and Europe and since we are offering services around next-generation applications, there is still much more scope for us to expand in the mature markets as well,” said Jetli.                

The company also plans to leverage the cloud model to spread out its geographic footprints. “As you begin to create more IP, which can be delivered through the cloud, your ability to reach more countries will exponentially increase. The beauty of the cloud is that you can create something and put it on the cloud. You can even work through partners. The cloud model gives you access to markets where it could be very costly to have a sales and marketing office,” said Jetli.                                

Former MindTree chairman Ashok Soota launched Happiest Minds Technologies in August this year as a next-generation IT solutions & services company focused on emerging technologies like cloud computing, social media, mobility solutions, business intelligence, analytics and unified communications. Just in a few months, the number of employees in the company has reached close to 100 and it plans to add more in the days to come.