Business component software developer Rubico has received an R80 million cash injection from an international consortium which will be put to use to further its globalisation plans.
The consortium is led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, and includes Copia Capital Partners, a UK-based venture capital company, and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).
Under the terms of the investment, the new IFC consortium, Brait Capital Partners, an existing Rubico partner, plus management and staff will have an equal share of the company. Existing stakeholders Women`s Investment Portfolio (Wiphold) and Group Five retain their minority share.
"The deal means we can now ramp up our plans to take our solutions overseas and be in a better position to capitalise quickly on the rapidly growing demand for proven and robust solutions for the financial services sector -- an area where we want to focus internationally," says Willie Esterhuyzen, Rubico CEO.
Planning ahead
ITWeb spoke to technology and research director Jay van Zyl, who expanded on the company`s future plans.
Van Zyl says Rubico`s key strategy now is to focus on the European and US markets, which he admits to be very competitive and tough to crack. "You have to be very, very good to differentiate yourself."
He says Rubico`s key differentiator is platform-independence. "We are not part of the 'religious war` between Microsoft-IBM and the Sun-Oracle alliance. We are the people who show the clients both those platforms, and give them the business components and infrastructure they require to run their business."
Rubico concentrates on the financial services industry, and has Absa (Bankifin), Sanlam, Medscheme and Metropolitan Life as its clients.
All enterprise software giants are also pitching for the financial services software business, but Van Zyl says Rubico is confident about its value proposition. "People who have analysed the component market know that none of the big vendors have got the full solution."
He explains that Rubico software operates at a high level of abstraction where most of the platform vendors don`t focus. He believes the clients are "dieing for a solution, for somebody to realise the component dream".
Rubico`s development and business functionality will continue to be done in Africa. "We are pursuing a model similar to the Indian software industry. This will give us a major cost-benefit over an organisation in the US or Europe."
Van Zyl says Rubico`s European thrust will also be based on partnerships with strategically selected value-added resellers. The company recently appointed a reseller in Sweden, from where it has access to the whole of the Nordic region.
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