Faizal and Shabana's KEF Infra goes global, joins hands with Katerra
Menlo Park, June 21: Katerra, a technology company revolutionizing the design and construction industries, and KEF Infra, an offsite manufacturing technology specialist, announced a merger today that will jointly expand their geographic reach, manufacturing capacity, and market expertise. Known as KEF Katerra, it will operate in the India and the Middle East markets.
Both companies employ a vertically integrated model, offering end-to-end building services enhanced by offsite manufacturing and enterprise technology. In addition to addressing housing needs, KEF Katerra will be actively engaged in building critical infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
Founded in 2014, KEF Infra utilizes robotics and automation in its advanced manufacturing operations to deliver high quality building projects more quickly and efficiently. The industry-leading expert in factory made products such as pre-cast concrete, prefabricated bathroom pods, joinery and furniture and aluminum and glazing facades for the Indian and Middle East markets, KEF Infra has 1,400 employees and factories in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu and Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in India. With the merger, Katerra will bring world-class pre-cast concrete technologies to the U.S. market, greatly expanding design and materials options for U.S. clients. At the same time, the merger will result in a more robust global supply chain and elevated manufacturing processes in existing KEF markets.
Katerra employs more than 2,000 people with operational factories in Greater Phoenix, Arizona and Shanghai, China, as well as two more U.S. factories in development. After the merger, there will be 20 offices worldwide and 3,400 employees.
“We are thrilled to merge with KEF Infra, a company that is truly a disruptor,” said Michael Marks, chairman and co-founder of Katerra. “It’s incredible to discover a team so aligned with our values and vision.”
“I am very excited by the prospects of this strategic alliance,” said Faizal Kottikollon, founder and chairman of KEF Infra. “We look forward to breaking new ground with such a like-minded team.”
About Katerra
Katerra is a technology company optimizing every aspect of building development, design and construction. With leaders from the most groundbreaking technology, design, manufacturing and construction companies, Katerra transforms how buildings and spaces come to life. Founded in 2015, Katerra has a growing number of domestic and international offices, factories and building projects. For more information, visit www.katerra.com.
About KEF Infra
KEF Infrastructure India Pvt. Ltd. or KEF Infra, a wholly owned entity of KEF Holdings PTE, was founded in India in 2014 by successful entrepreneurs Faizal Kottikollon and Shabana Faizal, who wanted to bring state-of-the-art infrastructure creation to India. The company is a technology-driven building manufacturing company that is dedicated to transforming the way that buildings and basic services are created and delivered in India by revolutionizing production, using world-class technology.
Courtesy: businesswire.com
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Indian-origin translator Padma Viswanathan shortlisted for International Booker Prize 2026
New Delhi (PTI): Padma Viswanathan, a Canadian-American writer of Indian-origin, has made it to the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist as the English translator of a Portuguese language novella.
"On Earth As It Is Beneath" by Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia, described by judges as a "brutal, haunting and hypnotic novella set in a remote Brazilian penal colony, where the boundaries between justice and cruelty collapse", is among the six worldwide contenders for the coveted literary honour.
The annual prize worth GBP 50,000, divided equally between the author and translator, was won last year by Kannada writer-activist Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for the short story collection "Heart Lamp". Each shortlisted title guarantees a prize of GBP 5,000 -- also split 50-50 between the book’s author and English translator.
"What struck us most is how spare, unflinching, uncompromising and relentless it is. Maia builds an entire moral universe out of very little: a remote prison, a handful of men, and the rituals of punishment that govern their lives.
"The novel reads almost like a dark fable about power, where brutality is ordinary and civilisation feels frighteningly thin," the judging panel, which also include award-winning Indian novelist and columnist Nilanjana S. Roy, said of the work translated by US-based Viswanathan.
The 58-year-old professor of creative writing at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville is an accomplished playwright and author, whose novels have been published in eight countries.
The list, announced on Tuesday, is dominated by women, with five of the six authors and four of the six translators being female. The authors and translators represent eight countries -- Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Taiwan, the UK and the United States.
"With narratives that capture moments from across the past century, these books reverberate with history. While there’s heartbreak, brutality and isolation among these stories, their lasting effect is energising," said author Natasha Brown, chair of this year’s judging panel.
The other books include "The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran" by Shida Bazyar and translated from German by Ruth Martin; "She Who Remains" by Rene Karabash and translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; "The Director" by Daniel Kehlmann and translated from German by Ross Benjamin; "Taiwan Travelogue" by Yáng Shuāng-zi and translated from Taiwanese by Lin King; and "The Witch" by Marie Ndiaye and translated from French by Jordan Stump.
The announcement of the winning book will take place on May 19 at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single work of fiction -- either a novel or a collection of short stories -- written in another language, translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
According to the organisers, the 2025 winner "Heart Lamp" –- the first collection of short stories to win the prize and the first translated from Kannada –- rapidly sold out in the UK in the subsequent days, with the UK publisher, And Other Stories, immediately reprinting 40,000 copies.
