Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), the venture capital arm of Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia is to further invest in Indian companies as valuations are hovering at reasonable levels.
With more than $600 million under management, NGP had invested in mobile and technology companies. In September, the U.S. software giant Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile handset and device business in a $7.17-billion deal. The deal, however, did not include NGP.
“We are looking at stepping up the pace of our investments in India, along with that in other parts of the world. We are super active…,” NGP Advisors India Managing Director Upal Basu told
“In India, valuations of companies have come to a balanced level from an investor’s point of view,” Basu added.
The venture capital firm, which invests across companies in the U.S., India, China and Europe, continues to raise funds from Nokia.
In India, the firm is keen to invest in local services, enterprise mobility (business software), digital advertising, embedded software and semi-conductor companies. Traditionally, NGP makes ‘Series B’ type of investments in exchange of between 10-20 per cent stake.
The Series A is the first institutional financing, while Series B is a much higher finance provided to a company.
“Occasionally, we would also look at providing Series A funding, in case we get a co-investor," he added.
The investments would be platform-agnostic and could in companies developing software on Android, Microsoft, HTML-5 and other technologies.