NetguruInc, the Nasdaq listed Kolkata-based software company, is in the acquisition mode.

It has entered into talks with three corporates -- two Indian and one foreign that it hopes to acquire in the next few weeks.

"We hope to conclude the first deal with one Indian company in the next eight to 12 weeks," said the president and chief operating officer of Netguru Inc, J Chatterjee.

Although Chatterjee declined to name the entity he said that this entity owns a number of proprietary software for the IT enabled sector and the acquisition will jell with Netguru's future plans in the sector.

The acquisitions will be funded through the private investment in public equity or PIPE route, to be sourced from the Wall Street.

Netguru has in fact successfully sourced funds from private investors in the past from entities like Laurus Funds and Hillcrest.

The last sourcing was done from Laurus a couple of weeks back, although the quantum of fund sourced was only $5 million for technology and R&D collaboration.

The companies it will be acquiring are mid -to-large capital sized entities with as many as 15,00 to 2,500 software engineers employed in each of these companies. The actual manpower size is however larger if administrative and other employees are considered.

"The acquisitions will provide synergy and will enable us to provide enhanced local support to our clients," Chatterjee said.

"These companies will also provide domain expertise in new areas that NetGuru is planning to enter, we will also be able to inherit the large skilled human resource that these companies have," he added.

The acquisitions are being pursued with NetGuru's plan of entering the IT Enabled Engineering Services sector that it hopes will be the revenue earner in the near future.

"With the recent blackout in the United States the country has realised that it requires additional capacity buildup in these sectors also requiring IT enabled engineering expertise which is in short supply in the country," explained Chatterjee.

"With the IT boom the US has seen a number of software and software related professionals, but professionals able to provide IT-enabled engineering services and IT enabling technology are in short supply, for the supply of civil, and mechanical engineers are in short supply. Foreseeing this demand in the near future, we are gearing up to catch the early bird," the COO said.

Although Chatterjee declined to name the amount required to fund the acquisitions, he said we have tied up with funding agencies for the purpose.

In a parallel development, the company is setting the field to foray into the information technology sector in China and Japan.