Draper International To Spread Local Operations

International venture capital firm Draper International is stepping into new areas for investment in the country including specialised retailing, hospitality and retail food businesses, signalling a major expansion in its India strategy.

This will take over half of Draper's Indian portfolio into non-information technology businesses for investment. The company has put up a $40-million investment portfolio for India. Out of it, it has already invested $20 million and plans to put qualify the rest in a year or two. "India has good potential for specialised retail business; we're also interested in investing in food business like chain of restaurants," said Kiran Nadkarni, managing director, Draper Inter-national (India).

Draper, which was a fund management company in the US, raised a $55-million venture capital kitty for investing in the US and Indian companies over a period of 3-5 years. Out of this, it has decided to commit $40 million for investment. Founded by Silicon Valley's Bill Draper, Draper International has been known for its investment in information technology (IT) segment in the US and India. The company has so far invested in around 18 companies in the US. In India, Draper was the first to start investing venture capital in IT companies. So far, it has invested in Bangalore-based PowerTel Boca and Mumbai-based Geometric Software and CMM.

Nadkarni said the company plans to invest only in India-oriented companies in the US. It is now in talks with a computer telephony company and others for investment and specialised retailing and hospitality industries.

Query Soft and SaveSmart, two IT companies in which Draper had invested in the US, have now also set up bases in the country.

Draper plans to invest around Rs 10 crore in Indian companies. It also plans to undertake multiple rounds of financing for companies.

"We're interested in investing in companies with high growth plans. Companies building up intellectual properties are our high target," Nadkarni added.