Qualcomm Ventures to invest more in India

Qualcomm Ventures, the venture capital arm of chip maker Qualcomm, plans to increase the pace of its investments in India. The company, which has invested in about 10 technology ventures in the country, feels the sky-rocketing mobile penetration is a window of opportunity.

“3G is slowly picking up in India and as phone prices are coming down, smartphone penetration is increasing,” said Kartheepan Madasamy, senior director (India and Israel), Qualcomm Ventures. “This will be a big growth driver for companies offering mobile platforms. The companies are evolving beyond the value-added services segment to broader application platforms. Currently, we are investing in about two companies every year. However, the pace would increase with the rise in mobile internet users.”

According to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India report, as on March 31, 2011, 381.4 million people accessed the internet through mobile phones, while the country’s internet subscriber base for narrowband and broadband stood at 19.67 million.

QUALCOMM’S INVESTMENTS
9 No of portfolio companies	11 No. of Investments (Includes multiple rounds of funding in the same company)	$32 million Total amount
Top deals by Qualcomm Ventures
Company	Amount	Date
MapmyIndia	$9.0 million	February 2009
Yehbi.com	$5.2 million	July 2012
Source: Venture Intelligence

Qualcomm Ventures, which started operations in 2000, has invested in about 95 ventures globally. The company forayed into India in 2006 and made its first investment in 2007, in Tissolve, a Bangalore-based company that focuses on chip development.

“We operate from our balance sheet and began our operations with $500 million for creating successful ventures in the mobile space,” said Madasamy. “Our focus is to make the mobile ecosystem grow. If we want to create an ecosystem, innovation is the key. This happens only in start-ups. We invest in start-ups focused on mobile technologies and mobile internet areas.”

Qualcomm Ventures’ portfolio companies in India include Apalya, Capillary Technologies, MapMy India, Obopay and Onward Mobility. Recently, along with Fidelity Growth Partners, it invested about $20 million in online wholesale cash-and-carry company Big Shoe Bazaar, whose investors include Nexus Venture Partners and Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran.

“We believe even consumer internet sites would be largely accessed through mobile devices. Though we focus on mobile platforms and applications, people are going to access e-commerce sites through mobiles. This is why we invested in Big Shoe Bazaar,” Madasamy said, adding the company planned to invest $1,00,000-200,000 in each early-stage company as seed fund. It would also invest $3-10 million in early-stage companies.

According to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on PE and mergers & acquisitions, Qualcomm Ventures accounted for 11 investments worth about $32 million in India, including multiple rounds of funding in the same company. Apart from direct venture capital investment, Qualcomm has another programme, the Q Prize India, through which it selects an innovative company and provides it convertible debt of $1,00,000.