By Nawaz Marican

SINGAPORE--Despite the general slowdown in venture capital funding, locally-based Firium Solutions (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, formerly known as Jatis Solutions, has managed to draw in investments of US$8.5 million.

Established in 1997, Firium provides e-business consulting, systems integration and software development. It has offices in Singapore (with 50 employees), Malaysia (15 staff) and Indonesia (130 staff).

Of the total investment, US$5.9 million came from Singapore mainboard-listed Internet Technology Group Ltd (ITG) and US$2.6 million from venture capital firm 3i Group plc; last April, 3i invested US$2 million in the company. ITG's investment was previously announced on February 8.

The majority ownership is still held internally, however, said Firium CEO Jusof Sjariffudin. He added that ITG and 3i hold equal minority shares, but declined to elaborate.

According to him, Firium has set aside 20 percent of this round of funding to acquire companies in Thailand and the Philippines by year end. He declined to reveal further details. In January, Firium acquired a locally-based systems integrator, Liahoni Consultancy, for an undisclosed amount.

"The remaining 80 percent will be set aside for hiring of staff, software development and...contingency plans," he added.

Among Firium's customers are ABN Amro, Prudential, theplanner.com, Motorola, SingTel, Singapore Technologies Engineering and Ezyhealth.com.

Jusof expects the company to be in the black by year end. He did not provide specifics on Firium's revenue targets, but said the company has experienced a 140 percent compounded annual growth rate since 1997.