Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel, has announced a series of investments totalling $40 million in technology start-ups.
All the investments were in Asian companies, and three in India. The companies originate from China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, underlining rising entrepreneurial spirit in the Asian economies.
The announcement was made at Intel Capital's annual global summit.
Intel Capital is a technology oriented venture capital fund that has been investing in India since 1998. Its notable Indian investments include those in Sharekhan; Yatra.com; Policybazar; Nipuna, which offers BPO and other services; Futuresoft, a telecommunications product and services company; India Infoline; Sasken and NIIT.
The three latest additions to the India portfolio are Happiest Minds Technologies — promoted by Mr Ashok Soota, founder of MindTree — TELiBrahma Convergent Communications and Fashion and You.
Happiest Minds Technology, according to Mr Ashok Soota makes products that result in ‘happy' customers, is engaged in providing cloud services, software products engineering, infrastructure management, security testing and consulting services.
TELiBrahma Convergent Communications is in mobile applications space. According to its founder Mr Suresh Narasimha, the company is growing at 300 per cent year on year over the last three years. Its product uses Bluetooth and WiFi technologies for advertisers and retailers. It has tied up with leading automobile and FMCG companies in the country to promote products among mobile users.
Fashion and You, promoted by Mr Harish Bahl, is an e-commerce venture. According to Mr Bahl, they are among the largest fashion retailers through Internet out of India, with 1,50,000 transactions done monthly.
The ongoing turbulence in global financial markets does not seem to have impacted Intel Capital, which is going ahead with its investment plans. The President of Intel Capital, Mr Arvind Sodhani, stated that as venture capital funds are long-term investors, these short-term fluctuations do not affect them. In fact, he added, such disturbances provide opportunities for making investments at a better price.
In 2011, Intel Capital has made worldwide investments of about $472 million in 136 companies. The fund has made 31 exits this year out of which six companies completed IPOs and 25 were bought by other companies.