Sequoia leads $30M investment in Chinese IT outsourcing firm, Worksoft

Updated

Sequoia Capital, the big-name Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has led a $30 million in a second round of funding into China-based IT outsourcing firm Worksoft Creative Software Technology — continuing Sequoia’s streak of investments overseas.

Moreover, Worksoft is gunning to someday go public on Nasdaq, according to the company’s vice president of biz development, David Scott Lewis.

He said Worksoft is positioning itself as the “Infosys of China,” in reference to Infosys, the best-known Indian outsourcing firm.

The company is the fifth largest China-based IT outsourcing firm, Lewis adds. But Sequoia and Menlo Park-based Silicon Valley firm DCM’s investments (DCM led the company’s first round) make it stand out — for being the only Chinese IT outsourcing company to attain high-profile investors. The company is focused on the U.S market, Lewis added, whereas the other four Chinese outsourcing companies focus on Japan.

Java programmers get $75 per hour in the States, whereas Worksoft pays them a mere $20 in China, Lewis said (Update: Lewis corrects us in comment below, saying they pay even less than $20). “Our rates are much lower than Tier 1 Indian cities and a bit lower than Tier 2 Indian cities,” he added.

In an email, Lewis also says we should expect a “HUGE acquisition or two from Worksoft,” (his caps, not ours) with a Bay Area company a likely target — as a way to help the company access the U.S. market.