Venture capitalists are looking at the Indian plan as a 'must have' business requirement for funding.
What this means for the Indian entrepreneurs looking for funding is that it can't get any better than this, said some prominent members of the world VC community at the Nasscom Product summit in Pune on Tuesday.
To understand the high regard that the VC community has for India, sample this. The total VC funding expected to come to India in the next 12 months, "Is $2 billion in 12-15 months," said Sanjay Anandram, Managing Director, JumpStartUp.
Consider the fact that just one company Intel Technology's VC arm, Intel Capital has announced a $250 million fund for India last December.
Dr Kumar Shiralgi, director, Intel Capital India said, "Since last December we have already invested in five companies-- Persistent Systems, Maya Entertainment, MobiApps, Mauj.com, a People Interactive Group Company and Real Image from our $250 million fund."
The company, with globally 350 companies in its portfolio, invested in over 40 companies in India since 1998.
There is good news for startups as well. "In the next 12 months there will be at least five different seed funds having a $30 million fund, that is about $150 million and these small funds will be able to support the requirements of startups whose fund requirements are small like $25,000- 50,000 and hence can't be supported by the larger VCs," said Sandeep Murthy, Partner, Sherpalo Ventures, Indian Representative for Kliener perkins Caufield & Byers.
The global firm with online businesses like Expedia, Match.com, and others has two investments in India-- Naukri.com and cleartrip.com, a startup e-commerce site which will be launched by the month-end.
The sanguine forecast for India is taken further by Sridhar Iyengar, president, TiE Global who notes that for an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the requirements are money, smart people and academia, besides the companies need to collaborate and compete at the same time for ideas to foster and develop.
He says. "I see that happening here now and within the next five years, India will have the same entrepreneurial ecosystem as that of Silicon Valley," To put it in a nutshell, the optimism for India can be summarised in Iyenger's words, "The global scenario is the Indian scenario."
