By: Sridhar K. Chari
Source: http://www.livemint.com
Category: Investment In India
Bangalore: Intel Capital, chip maker Intel Corp.’s global investment arm, is keen on using some of the $50 million (around Rs. 257 crore) left over from its $250 million India Technology Fund to finance product start-ups this year—to fuel greater adoption of the chips it hopes to make for tablet computers and smartphones.
It is particularly keen on a tablet for the education sector, increasingly seen as a huge market opportunity in India.
“If somebody can come up with an innovative tablet, with an innovative interface—after all, we are a country of many languages—that would be of great interest,” said Sudheer Kuppam, Intel Capital managing director for India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.
“For 2012 and beyond, Intel Capital’s global focus is on ultrabooks, smartphones, tablets, and services around cloud and security,” he said in an interview. “I would like to see Indian entrepreneurs come up with their share of offerings.”
Nitin Khanapurkar, executive director at consulting firm KPMG, said there is space in India for better tablets than low-cost ones such as Aakash, the Indian government’s sub-$35 tablet for students.
“People have already seen the high-end tablets. So, even for educational use, if someone can create a device with better performance, may be using Intel chips, at a higher price point, it can find space,” he said. “But content and pricing of content will also become important.”
The India Technology Fund, set up in December 2005, began investing in May 2006. So far it has invested $200 million. In 2011, its investments totalled $56 million, a “record year for Intel Capital”, said Kuppam.
Most of these investments, however, went into services companies. Of the 17 companies it invested in last year, only two are product companies—Saankhya Labs Pvt. Ltd, a semi-conductor company, and Duron Energy Pvt. Ltd, which makes affordable solar power products for off-grid use. Both are based in Bangalore.
“It is the other way around not only in the US but even in China. It was in 2011 that we for the first time saw product innovation in India. We do expect a kind of increase in the product innovation space,” said Kuppam.
For that to happen in India, Intel Capital, like any venture capital or private equity firm, is looking for ideas with large market opportunities, given that product start-ups are capital intensive. The second aspect is expertise.
“Currently, most of the product design and R&D expertise resides in the West. But that is slowly changing. MNCs have completed around a decade here in India and there is a critical mass with industrial experience. Whether they are exposed to the latest and greatest is a question, but it is happening,” Kuppam said.
On services, Kuppam cited Intel Capital’s investment in Ashok Soota’s Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt. Ltd as an example. “We invested because of Soota’s vision to bring cloud and security services to India,” he said.
Intel Capital typically does not release investment figures for individual companies, preferring to club a few together and provide a consolidated number. Saankhya Labs and Duron Energy, for example, were among six companies for which funding of $20 million was announced in September.
Intel Capital has been vocal about its intent to get into the smartphone business, currently dominated by ARM Ltd’s architecture-based chips. This, too, creates investment opportunities, Kuppam said.
“Any time you are talking about new products, to bring out an Intel Inside smartphone you have to port the operating system to Intel architecture. A Chinese company we funded in 2011, called Borqs, is doing just that, on Android,” Kuppam said.
Intel Capital considers itself a “stage-agnostic” strategic investor—meaning it funds starts-ups regardless of their phase of growth, but the bulk of its investments are mid- to late-stage. “That is where the capital requirements are largest. We look for meaningful ownership, which means at least 10%, so that means we have to write the big checks,” Kuppam said.
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/10225617/Intel-Capital-looking-for-prod.html
Source: http://www.livemint.com
Category: Investment In India
Bangalore: Intel Capital, chip maker Intel Corp.’s global investment arm, is keen on using some of the $50 million (around Rs. 257 crore) left over from its $250 million India Technology Fund to finance product start-ups this year—to fuel greater adoption of the chips it hopes to make for tablet computers and smartphones.
It is particularly keen on a tablet for the education sector, increasingly seen as a huge market opportunity in India.
“If somebody can come up with an innovative tablet, with an innovative interface—after all, we are a country of many languages—that would be of great interest,” said Sudheer Kuppam, Intel Capital managing director for India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.
“For 2012 and beyond, Intel Capital’s global focus is on ultrabooks, smartphones, tablets, and services around cloud and security,” he said in an interview. “I would like to see Indian entrepreneurs come up with their share of offerings.”
Nitin Khanapurkar, executive director at consulting firm KPMG, said there is space in India for better tablets than low-cost ones such as Aakash, the Indian government’s sub-$35 tablet for students.
“People have already seen the high-end tablets. So, even for educational use, if someone can create a device with better performance, may be using Intel chips, at a higher price point, it can find space,” he said. “But content and pricing of content will also become important.”
The India Technology Fund, set up in December 2005, began investing in May 2006. So far it has invested $200 million. In 2011, its investments totalled $56 million, a “record year for Intel Capital”, said Kuppam.
Most of these investments, however, went into services companies. Of the 17 companies it invested in last year, only two are product companies—Saankhya Labs Pvt. Ltd, a semi-conductor company, and Duron Energy Pvt. Ltd, which makes affordable solar power products for off-grid use. Both are based in Bangalore.
“It is the other way around not only in the US but even in China. It was in 2011 that we for the first time saw product innovation in India. We do expect a kind of increase in the product innovation space,” said Kuppam.
For that to happen in India, Intel Capital, like any venture capital or private equity firm, is looking for ideas with large market opportunities, given that product start-ups are capital intensive. The second aspect is expertise.
“Currently, most of the product design and R&D expertise resides in the West. But that is slowly changing. MNCs have completed around a decade here in India and there is a critical mass with industrial experience. Whether they are exposed to the latest and greatest is a question, but it is happening,” Kuppam said.
On services, Kuppam cited Intel Capital’s investment in Ashok Soota’s Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt. Ltd as an example. “We invested because of Soota’s vision to bring cloud and security services to India,” he said.
Intel Capital typically does not release investment figures for individual companies, preferring to club a few together and provide a consolidated number. Saankhya Labs and Duron Energy, for example, were among six companies for which funding of $20 million was announced in September.
Intel Capital has been vocal about its intent to get into the smartphone business, currently dominated by ARM Ltd’s architecture-based chips. This, too, creates investment opportunities, Kuppam said.
“Any time you are talking about new products, to bring out an Intel Inside smartphone you have to port the operating system to Intel architecture. A Chinese company we funded in 2011, called Borqs, is doing just that, on Android,” Kuppam said.
Intel Capital considers itself a “stage-agnostic” strategic investor—meaning it funds starts-ups regardless of their phase of growth, but the bulk of its investments are mid- to late-stage. “That is where the capital requirements are largest. We look for meaningful ownership, which means at least 10%, so that means we have to write the big checks,” Kuppam said.
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/10225617/Intel-Capital-looking-for-prod.html
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