By Trina Foo

SINGAPORE-BASED Firium Solutions (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd said it received US$8.5 million (S$14.8 million) in its second round of funding from UK-based VC, 3i Group, and from Singapore-based ITG (Internet Technology Group).

3i followed up its US$2 million investment last year with another US$2.6 million this year, and ITG put in its first US$5.9 million in Firium. The funds will be used to open regional offices, to recruit talent and for acquisitions, Firium said.

Formerly called Jatis Solutions, Firium focuses on offering DCM (demand chain management) solutions for financial services, retail and distribution sectors in the Asia-Pacific region.

'Our customers include Motorola, Prudential, ABN Amro Bank and Tops Ahold,' said Jusuf Sjariffudin, founder, president and CEO of Firium, said. 'We have tieups with Oracle Corp, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft Corp, among others. Oracle recently appointed us as a client partner to provide data centre services and facilities management for them in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.'

Mr Sjariffudin said Firium will focus on two sectors - financial services, and retail and distribution - and targeting acquisitions in new markets such as Thailand and the Philippines this year.

Mr Koh Boon Hwee, ITG's executive chairman, said: 'While investors are now cautious about investing in technology companies, both 3i and ITG are confident that Firium's management team can secure long-term growth. It already has a proven track record to showcase, having secured significant projects from MNCs who are known to usually prefer global consulting names.'

Alastair Morrison, director of 3i Group for South-east Asia, said: 'Globally the market for demand-supply chain management will grow from US$25.3 billion in 1999 to US$139.8 billion by 2004, according to estimates from International Data Corp. Firium can take advantage of this opportunity to emerge as a regional DCM leader.'