Riskmaster Timothy C Draper revisits India in October 10-12 and will make pit-stops in Mumbai and Bangalore. The last time the maverick venture capitalist was here in late 2005 he set the ball rolling on Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s (DFJ) formal entry into India with the TiE Draper India Venture Challenge that gave away $150,000 as prize money to winning startups.
Subsequently DFJ set up headquarters in Bangalore in September 2007 led by Mohanjit Jolly and Sateesh Andra (who works out of Hyderabad) — more on DFJ’s India gameplan here. It has been investing from a $75 million India allocation (from its $600 million DFJ IX fund) and has closed nine deals in 12-odd months. Portfolio below:
- Attero Recycling – eWaste management
- Canvera – online/offline digital photography
- Cleartrip – online travel services
- Gingersoft Media – SMS-based advertising
- MChek – mobile payment
- Pressmart – digitization services
- RS Livemedia – out-of-home advertising
- Reva Electric Car Co – electric vehicles
- Vegayan Systems – telecom networking solutions
Draper visits the country at an interesting time. Seasoned professionals are quitting safe, salaried jobs to start companies, startup networking forums created by students, entrepreneurs and professionals are bringing new ideas to the fore, venture capital is within reasonable reach and even seed funding has made a small beginning. Some venture capitalists are already raising second funds for India. $100 million-plus seems to be the benchmark corpus — read about Helion Venture Partners’s and Nexus Venture Partners’s second funds.
Photo Courtesy: DFJ
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Great time for India in relation with entrepreneurship!