In January this year, we had reported that Infosys has boosted their start-up funds to $500 million or Rs 3000 crore, which was earlier $100 million (Rs 600 crore). Now, as per reports coming in from Bangalore, Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys has earmarked one third of this venture funds for startups from India, Israel and USA, along with investments in around 12-15 venture capital funds from all over the world.
As per insiders, there is no specific startup or venture capital fund which they are targeting, but they are simply looking for some ideas which are disruptive and unique. A person from Infosys on condition of anonymity said, “The idea is not just to be a passive financial investor but take disruptive solutions to customers.”
Last month, Infosys made their first investment in a startup, when they poured $15 million from their startup fund into DreamWorks Animation, a company based in USA. In India, DreamWorks have opened a new company, of which Infosys is the only investor as of now. Earlier, there were talks that Infosys may enter the animation market with a partnership with an established player. This investment of $15 million (Rs 90 crore) was a result of that only.
Last year in May, Infosys had created a new subsidiary: Edgeverve Systems, which will solely focus on automation technology. Earlier this year, they bought Panaya, which is a SaaS based quality automation firm.
Interestingly, this funds of Rs 750 crore would be used to fund startups from India, as well as Israel and USA, and their first investment anyways went for a US company. And automation can be a major sector where they can invest.
Some of the other startup funds and initiatives which are now actively seeking disruptive ideas and revolutionary concept in India:
- Wipro: They have created a warchest of $100 million for investing in startups, and last year in February, they invested $19 million in two startups from USA.
- 500 Startup’s backed StartupWallah has resumed their Indian operations with Rs 120 crore funds for startups
- Reserve Bank of India has earmarked Rs 2000 crore startup fund, only for Indian companies
- Microsoft India has combined their seed funding, startup accelerator and BizSpark under one umbrella (16 startups were selected last year)
- Target from USA has launched India accelerator program, which have invested in two startups as of now
- Google Capital has opened their first office outside India to tap into the opportunities
- SEBI has altered rules and laws to help startups launch their IPOs
- Facebook has made their first Indian acquisition and can invest in few more in coming days
- Twitter has also made their first Indian acquisition
Here is a list of all funding and investments done in Indian startups in 2015. An overview of all investments in Indian startups last year, which totaled $1.3 billion. Here are 10 start-up incubation centers in India, which we shared last year.
