VC Deals Roundup: January to June 2008

These days Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers’ (KPCB) home page shouts out ‘In Search Of The Next Big Idea’. The firm’s deal run in India from January through June would suggest that this market is a part of that big search — four out of the 13-odd early-stage investments by venture capitalists in India during the first six months of 2008 are KPCB deals, in partnership with Sherpalo Ventures. Incidentally, KPCB is yet to house a local team in India — it has two offices in China — and prefers instead to co-invest with its preferred local partner Sherpalo, led here by Sandeep Murthy. KPCB-Sherpalo’s first deal in India was InfoEge, owner of jobs portal Naukri in May 2006 — $6 million for a 5 per cent stake. Some people might remember the legendary John Doerr (he’s backed Google and just about every other notable technology company in Silicon Valley) being in Mumbai briefly to announce the deal and KPCB’s intent for India.

Overall, venture capitalists invested over $90 million across 13 companies in the first six months of calendar year 2008.