Tech: Bengaluru may host 40% of PE investments

Bengaluru is expected to host 40 per cent of the private equity investment into technology ventures in India in the next five years.

Around $7.5 billion is expected to come into India in the technology space by way of PE investment of which Bengaluru could net $3 billion.

This is expected to happen on the back of a growing number of entrepreneurs in the city looking to start their own ventures.

Sudhir Sethi, managing director, IDG Ventures, said overall, PE investment into India is likely to touch $75 billion for the period 2010-15 as compared to $ 40 billion for 2004-09.

Technology, healthcare and manufacturing are expecting to be the leading sectors for PE investment during this period. "We see the emergence of more serial entrepreneurs in recent times since they already have the base," said Sethi.

The Indus Entrepreneurs, a non-profit organisation focused on promoting entrepreneurship said that it seeing a growing number of people try their hand at entrepreneurship with funds being available through angel investors and venture capitalists.

"The buzzword that we are seeing among new-age entrepreneurs is the use of cloud technology for their ventures. Using mobile as a platform will be the next big area for entrepreneurship," said Pradeep Kar, president of Tie-Bengaluru.

The organisation has over 1,000 members in the city.

TiE organised a competition called 'Kaun Banega Entrepreneur' which was open to TiE Bengaluru and Hubli members. Under the programme, teams submitted their business plans to a panel of judges.

TiE received a total of 65 entries, including individual and group proposals for this programme. Each team was given an imaginary fund of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million), which they could utilise to develop their business including team formation, capital costs, sales and marketing, technology, customer support.

Artoo (a technology startup that offers software solutions to Microfinance Institutions) was declared as the winner of the event.

Sameer Segal, a member of the Artoo team said that the start-up was set to launch two paid pilot tests of its product in the market.

"The biggest hurdle entrepreneurs face is credibility. Till the revenues speak for themselves, it is difficult to convince customers, institutes and vendors," he said.

Entrepreneurs are focusing on niche areas rather than those with proven big markets to gain a first mover advantage. One such start-up is Ixora Biosciences which is focused on applications of genomics to healthcare.

"We are entering a space where people are still trying to get a foothold of the

market. Genome sequencing has enormous potential in healthchare as one can analyse the genetic make-up of a person and monitor aspects like cancer progression," said K Vijayachandra, managing director of the company.

Despite the growing appetite for entrepreneurship, industry leaders have a word of caution. Subroto Bagchi, co-founder and vice chairman of MindTree said that entrepreneurs who were enamoured by the idea instead of a sound business plan would find it difficult to take their venture ahead.

Similarly, Vinita Bali, managing director of Britannia Industries said aspiring entrepreneurs should focus on clarity of the buyer and the value proposition.