Airtel buys ~25% stake in SD-WAN startup Lavelle Networks

Bharti Airtel announced an agreement to acquire appx. 25 percent stake in Bengaluru based technology startup, Lavelle Networks.
Lavelle Networks specialises in Software-defined Wide Area Network solutions and it serves several industry segments. Its platform has connected thousands of Indian enterprises from the largest financial institutions to e-commerce networks.

SD-WAN market in India is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 55 percent in 2022-2026. As per F&S End-User Survey 2021, about 62 percent of enterprises plan to deploy SD-WAN across their organization in the next 1-2 years, Apalak Ghosh, Associate Director and Head of ICT, Frost & Sullivan South Asia, said.

Airtel Business, as part of Network as a service (NaaS), will offer software defined connectivity solution  from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations, said Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO – Airtel Business.

Airtel Business serves over one million businesses through its integrated portfolio of – connectivity, conferencing, cloud & data centers, cyber security, IoT, Ad-tech, CPaaS (Airtel IQ), and more. It is the market leader in India’s enterprise connectivity segment.