Infosys expands start-up fund to $500 mn

Infosys on Friday announced expansion of the size of its innovation fund to $500 million, with an aim of playing a bigger role in the start-up system, including globally and in India. The Bengaluru-based information technology services company formed this fund in 2013 with a corpus of $100 million, with an aim of working with start-ups in innovative technology areas.

With the expanded fund, Infosys is looking at investing in areas such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), collaborative technologies and design, the company said.

"It will take time, of course, to draw down from this fund, that will start investing in companies from around the world, but we also want to have a dedicated focus, especially on Indian start-ups," said Infosys Managing Director Vishal Sikka.

Previously, the fund was managed by Deepak Padaki, earlier heading mergers & acquisitions. With Padaki now managing the strategy, Infosys is contemplating a dedicated leader to manage the fund. "Deepak is our head of strategy and while this was just a $100 mn fund that we were not so focused on, he was also managing it. But with this becoming a $500 million fund, we will probably have to find a new leader to run just the fund," Sikka added.