RPT-CORRECTED-U.S.-based Serbian HTEC Group raises $140 mln for global expansion

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SARAJEVO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Serbia-founded and U.S.-based IT services, consulting and software company HTEC Group said on Tuesday it has secured $140 million from investment firm Brighton Park Capital in an equity deal to accelerate its global expansion.

"This is an equity fundraise for a minority stake in the company," HTEC Group CEO Aleksandar Cabrilo told Reuters in an interview.

"The idea is to merge the best of what Southeast Europe has, and that is sophisticated engineering, with product design in the United States and Great Britain," Cabrilo said.

The headquarters of the company which was founded by a small team in Belgrade in 2008 were moved five years ago to San Francisco, where the most revenues had come from, Cabrilo said.

HTEC Group currently employs over 1,000 people, most of them in Southeast European countries, with 70 new jobs being created monthly. It is one of the fastest-growing digital services companies in Europe, posting 100% annual growth, he added.

"Brighton Park's investment, which is seen to be among the largest initial funding rounds recorded in Europe in 2021, will enable us to accelerate organic growth and acquisitions in new markets", Cabrilo said.

HTEC Group has a strong track record of innovative product development, such as in digitising the shipping industry, creating wearable devices that measure fetal health and building robotic hands for warehouses.

"We are thrilled to be backing a company that is providing opportunities to the increasing tech talent in Europe and look forward to leveraging our significant industry expertise to help the company grow," Mark Dzialga, the managing partner at Brighton Park Capital, said in a statement.

The Brighton Park is a growth equity investment firm that specializes in partnering with growth-stage software, healthcare and tech-enabled services businesses. (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)