Mayfield to invest in 5 Indian firms

Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund focusing on the US, China and India with $2.8 billion assets under management, is looking at parking its investments in about five Indian companies this year.

“China offers opportunity for early stage venture capital investing like in the US, whereas in India it is venture growth. There is an enormous number of small and medium enterprises – about 20,000 – in the country that have achieved some scale and size but are capital-starved. We are looking at tapping into this potential. We currently have about five companies on our radar and will invest in them from our $110 million (around Rs 550 crore) India-dedicated fund this year,” Nikhil Khattau, managing director of Mayfield, told Business Standard.

Khattau said the fund was looking at three main themes – infrastructure and ancillaries, consumer and globally-competent Indian companies in the IT, ITeS and manufacturing space – to invest in India. “About 65 per cent of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is consumer-oriented and that will reflect in the deals that we make here,” he added.

“Although the amount we invest is driven largely by the opportunity, our initial investment is between $5 million (Rs 25 crore) and $15 million (Rs 75 crore) with the typical holding period being three to five years. We generally also participate in follow-on financing rounds and assist in finding co-investors in these rounds,” Khattau said.

Mayfield has so far parked 20 per cent of its India-dedicated fund in seven companies including Genesis Colors, a fashion designer label based out of Delhi, Bangalore-based steel design and construction services firm Geodesic Techniques and optical networking products company Tejas Network, Hyderabad-based voltage stabilisers and power-saving equipment provider Servomax and Chennai-headquartered Consim Info (formerly known as Bharat Matrimony Group).

“South India is where we get more deals from,” Khattau said, adding that the VC firm expected its current fund to be exhausted over the next three to four years.