THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Palnar Transmedia, one of the first startup companies in Kerala with a strong presence in the US and European markets, will soon open its new development centre in Bengaluru.
Announcing this at the company’s silver jubilee celebrations here on Saturday, its promoters said they would also expand operations in Thiruvananthapuram with more recruitments.
Palnar now has a collective size of more than 300 employees working in India, the US and Germany, with a combined turnover of more than USD 17 million.
German Consul General Achim Burkart, who addressed the impressive gathering at the celebrations, lauded the values Palnar upholds to ensure quality services to its clients in Germany and the US while staying closely knitted together as a family.
Sindhu Gangadharan, Managing Director of SAP India, who was the chief guest, highlighted the perseverance of a young startup 25 years ago to sail through the tough times of two global financial crises early this century.
In his thanksgiving address, Dr Syed Ibrahim, managing director of Palnar, narrated their arduous journey over a quarter century, making it one of Kerala’s best homegrown IT companies.
“Kerala has a robust ecosystem for IT companies to grow by leaps and bounds, and the growth of Palnar is a testimony to this,” Dr Ibrahim said.
“A fledgling company like us could survive and succeed only with the tremendous support from the Technopark management, clients, family and staff members.”
Sreejith Narayan, founder-director of Palnar, who welcomed the guests, said the company was expanding in a big way, and its new development centre in Bangalore will be operational this year itself.
An array of guests, including G Vijaya Raghavan, Tecnhopark’s founder CEO; Anoop Ambika, CEO of Kerala Startup Mission; Sreekumar, secretary, GTECH, Col. Sanjeev Nair, CEO of Technopark Trivandrum and Werner Weiss, Managing director of Insiders Technology Germany, addressed the gathering.
Dr Ibrahim and Sreejith started the company on 16th September 1998 with an initial capital of USD 650, operating from a 150 sq ft space at Technopark’s Pamba block.
Palnar’s focus was primarily on the German-speaking European market. Shortly after its launch, it got its first client from Germany, and its office became more prominent, adding 150 sq. ft.
In 2019, Planar acquired German IT company iworxs GmbH after working with it for over 12 years, marking its entry into the European market with a new German identity.
Coinciding with the silver jubilee and reflective of a strong business bonding, Palnar will henceforth be operating in India and Europe under the new brand name iworks by Palnar.
After the acquisition of iworks Palnar partnered with Smartup AG in neighbouring Switzerland to develop path-breaking solutions like an application for bike parking towers in German and Swiss towns.
For its Austrian client DaFi, Palnar provides the entire solutions for managing hundreds of solar installations and energy management systems across the Pongau region.
Though the company is actively expanding its footprint in the US and European markets, the teams in its development centre in Thiruvananthapuram are executing the actual programming works.
