Norwest to close six investment by end of 2008

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), which manages over $2.5 billion in venture capital, plans to close around six investments in Indian firms by end 2008. The venture capital firm will also raise another (its 11th) global fund of $1 billion by end 2009 besides expanding its core team in the country.

Till date, NVP has invested in five Indian firms of the $650 million fund it raised in 2006. Besides, the firm has invested in over 20 hybrid or cross-border companies headquartered in the US, but with significant presence in India. For instance, the firm today closed an investment of $32 million (around Rs 140 crore) in US-based Vanu along with participation of previous investors -- Charles River Ventures and Tata Capital. Vanu Inc, which provides software radio infrastructure solutions for cellular operators. The company founded by Vanu Bose--son of Dr Amar Bose of Bose acoustics-- will be using majority of funds to expand its operations in India, through increased staffing and the signing of strategic partnerships.

“We have a team of people in India now. We will be adding one more member to the team soon that brings the number to four including myself. We are building a team, which will allow us to invest in variety of firms in India. The $1 billion fund will cater to India, Israel and China,” Pramod Haque, Managing Partner, Norwest Venture partners, told Business Standard.

“The investments will be used to expand the India operations as well as cater to the US market. We see a great opportunity for Vanu in India over the next two years. Vanu solutions can answer the Indian Telcos need of expanding into the rural areas without too much of capex expenditure,” says Haque. Vanu is already in talks with several Indian firms for its solutions. The company has a tie-up with GTL to develop solutions for sharing active infrastructure by mobile operators.

Vanu’s software solution Anywave allows Telcos to change their radio protocols-- CDMA and GSM-- without the change in hardware. Presently, Telco’s wanting to cater to both the standards need to install different towers catering to CDMA and GSM. Vanu’s Anywave system rather than processing wireless standards in single-purpose components – the traditional method that requires specialised signal processing hardware – it defines and processes each technology entirely in software. The technology has been certified by the Federal communications commission (FCC).