Cisco investment arm to fund start-ups in India

The investment arm of global networking products major Cisco Monday announced a $40 million (Rs.241 crore) fund for early-stage firms (start-ups) in India which are focused on products and technologies relevant to the country and other emerging markets.

"The funds will also be made in firms which work on cost-optimised designs, industry vertical solutions and applications on cloud computing," the Indian subsidiary of the US global telecom products firm said in a statement here.

The first investment will be in Covacsis, a Mumbai-based real-time analytics platform software provider catering to manufacturing production floors.

"The new venture investment is consistent with our track record of driving IT market growth through investment in the innovation economies," the statement said.

The $48-billion company had earlier strategically invested in growth stage Indian firms such as Netmagic and Apalya and social innovation funds like Aavishkaar.

The early stage funding under the India Innovation theme is a part of the $250-million the company had announced early this year on next generation technologies worldwide, including big data and analytics; the Internet of Things, connected mobility, storage, silicon and content technology ecosystem.

The company also invested in MobStac, a Bangalore-based start-up, as part of its global connected mobility theme.

"Our belief is the innovative application of technology can have a positive impact on India's competitiveness, diversification of its industry base, its ability to create jobs and improve quality of life for its citizens," Cisco India president (sales) Dinesh Malkani said on the occasion.

The latest funding also recognises the innovation and potential the India technology market offers.

Our objective is to help catalyse and accelerate that potential into action that will have a positive impact in India and globally," Malkani noted.

As India builds its communications infrastructure, it provides an immense opportunity for local entrepreneurs to develop new technologies and applications.

"By spurring and accelerating innovation, we want to help India evolve as a global hub for innovation and help us to become a defining player in taking technology investment in the region to the next level," Cisco Asia Pacific & Japan managing director Joydeep Bose said.