Archive for the 'News/ Events' Category

Support for Green Businesses

New Ventures India inviting business plans from green entrepreneurs for its 2009 cycle

Eco-entrepreneurs should hurry and submit their business plan to the following email addresses: hemant.nitturkar@cii.in or vamshi. krishna@cii.in

Upon short-listing, twenty potential green companies will receive special mentoring from a team of experts. They will then be showcasing their business proposal and pitching their case for investment before Angel Investors, Private Equity Investors, Institutional Investors, Venture Capitalists, Bankers at the 4th edition of Investor Forum to be held on 29-30 October 2009 in Mumbai.

As date, New Ventures India facilitated investments to the tune of INR 80 Crore (20 million USD) investments into 9 different companies and is on the promising trail to facilitate investments to other potential green enterprises.

New Ventures India (NVI) is a joint initiative between CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad and World Resources Institute, Washington and is supported by British High Commission under the Strategic Program Fund, US Department of State under Asia-Pacific Partnership & USAID.

Marc Andreessen raises $300MM for early stage investments

Very interesting news. In this climate of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, noted entrepreneur Marc Andreessen (who led the development of the first web browser and co-founded Netscape, among other things) and Ben Horowitz have raised 300 million dollars for early stage investments:

Sources said the fund–which was nicknamed “Project A” but is actually called Andreessen Horowitz–will be $300 million. It is $50 million over the $250 million he and Horowitz had planned.

Several major institutional investors–from universities, for example–have invested large chunks of up to $20 million or more, while a spate of Silicon Valley luminaries has put in amounts of $1 million or less.

The quick completion of the fund raising, in the midst of a national econalypse, is a good sign perhaps for the forward-leaning culture of tech, which has seen some pullback by VCs over the last six months.

They certainly have the entrepreneurial chops, and are talking the talk about doing early stage deals and being patient:

His new effort will focus on early-stage investments, he said in the interview with Rose, noting that “our claim to fame is, we’ve actually, you know, by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, we’ve done it, we’ve been on that side of the table for a long time; we know what it’s like.”

Andreessen said then that he and Horowitz had made 36 investments over the last three years of up to $200,000, but that his new firm will make up to $1 million bets on companies they decide to invest in.

Plus, he said then he would be patient: “Like with our new fund, if we fund a company today, we’re thinking about a return in seven to 10 years, so we can go through three or four or even five years of economic downturn, as long as, at some point, we come out the other end.”

NASSCOM EMERGE 50 is all about honouring the true spirit of SMEs

The contribution of the SME community to the Indian IT-BPO industry can never be overemphasized but most Emerging companies face a major challenge in getting their due recognition and at times even loose out to the larger players. Size definitely does matter, but should not be the only criteria for recognition. The Indian IT-BPO Industry is replete with examples of SMEs who are really doing some path breaking work, using cutting edge technology but not getting due visibility beyond their ecosystem. Similarly, there are others operating out of Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities employing differently abled people, and serving the nation in a big way. Their example too needs to be brought forth.

The NASSCOM EMERGE 50 is all about honouring the true spirit of SMEs. It is about recognizing the uniqueness that each company brings to the table and giving them the opportunity to showcase their achievements. To induce objectivity to the nomination process, some unique parameters have been drawn, so as to increase the ambit of selection and also bring in transparency to the entire process.

If you are an SME, with an annual turnover of less than 50 Crores and fall in any of the below mentioned categories, then please use this platform to send in your nomination to NASSCOM EMERGE 50. Here’s an opportunity to reach out to the larger community and showcase what you have been doing successfully over the years.

The top 50 companies, selected by the panel would then be nurtured, and mentored to take it to the next level of growth and productivity. In the years to come by, we too can proudly lay a claim to your success story.

The categories where companies can nominate their applications are:

EMERGE Growth - The rapid growth and success of companies in tough times is not a matter of chance! Challenging economic conditions not only test companies but should also motivate them to innovate and offer opportunities to reinvigorate themselves. NASSCOM invites companies which are growing faster compared to the existential markets and are all profitable. The criterion for selection would be based on the percentage revenue growth achieved in the last three years in any market(s).

EMERGE Markets (Non-Traditional/Domestic)

Non-traditional Markets- US and UK being the dominant markets for the Indian IT industry, and contributing to about 77 -78 % of the entire industry revenue are considered traditional markets. Other countries besides the big two are being considered as non- traditional ones. If your organisation has a successful business in any of the non-traditional markets you can nominate yourself for the category.

Domestic market – India in the last few years has grown substantially with adoption of IT products and services. Companies exploring avenues in the domestic market and creating high revenue earning possibilities may nominate themselves for the category.

EMERGE Products – Emerging Indian IT companies which own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company’s operating revenues are invited to nominate their candidature for this category. The selection criterion would look at the online opportunity in the specific segments and the ability of the company to adapt to the market.

EMERGE Services – This category would look for companies having a strong domain focus specializing in a particular services business. This category would be vying for companies which have identified a niche for themselves with a strong foothold in the market w.r.t their services domain and have a unique differentiating factor from the competition.

EMERGE – Jury’s pick – Our eminent jury panel would be short listing 10 companies which would display a unique value proposition in their service/product offerings not getting covered in any of the categories mentioned above.

We are looking forward for your participation in this initiative specially focussed around the emerging companies. The last date for submitting your nominations is 15th June 2009. So, what are you waiting for, send in your nominations today!

Sharad Sharma joins Canaan as EIR

We are very pleased to bring Sharad Sharma as EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence) at Canaan. We have had a long standing relationship with Sharad, and share common interest in cloud computing as a disruptive area of growth. Over the next few months, Sharad with work with the Canaan team to identify an opportunity that he would like to build out over coming years.

EIR is really a structure that allows us to choose an entrepreneur ahead of the idea. Sharad’s prior track record, his passion for entrepreneurship, early knowledge of cloud computing, and interpersonal comfort made it compelling for us to take this route. We also felt equipped to contribute to his efforts given our global footprint and existing exposure to cloud computing through companies like Virsto and Soasta.

Sharad last led Yahoo! India R&D and was the India General Manager and VP of Product Operations with Symantec. He was also a co-founder and CEO of Teltier Technologies, a wireless infrastructure start-up that is now part of Cisco. He has also established AT&T’s and later Lucent’s R&D organization in India.

Welcome on board, Sharad!

Inviting Early Stage Ventures/ University Startups

A close friend and mentor, a member of the Management Board of one of Europe’s largest media companies and my Chairman designate, is on a private visit to India between the 8th and 14th of May. This will be his first visit to the country and we are actively exploring the possibility of investing in early stage ventures in India, especially those at university and on the ‘edge’ during this summer (!) or graduated in the last one year.

We are meeting a few in Kolkata on the 9th and in some probability in Delhi subsequently.

If any teams are interested please drop me a line at:

sanjukt.saha@onebillionminds.com

VC investments falling off cliff in the US

Alok asked earlier about what change in behaviour we’re seeing among VCs. My own sense is that VCs in India are much more cautious than VCs in, say, the US. “No” is always a safe answer. Of course, the “venture” or “risk” part of “Venture Capital” is then drastically downplayed. Nowhere is this more true than in times like these. I have not attempted to gather much data on this impression yet specifically for the Indian market, but I would be surprised to be proved wrong.

Meanwhile, in the US, investments have fallen off a cliff. A post in TechCrunch details just how bad it has been so far this year:

And make no mistake—it’s a steep drop. Venture funding fell by 50% nationally from the first quarter in 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, totaling to $3.9 billion, according to Dow Jones Venture Source. That’s the lowest total since 1998. PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association had it falling farther to $3 billion.

Information technology investments fell 53% year-over-year to $1.7 billion—the lowest since 1997, and the lowest volume of deals since 1995. And clean tech? Well so much for that being the future of the U.S. economy: It fell by 74% to a paltry $117 million.

VC investments in Q1 2009

The author also believes that this isn’t just about the recession, and that the VC industry was overdue for a shakeup.

Returns, on the other hand, did go down. And they never really got back up, given the amount invested. But the industry is graded on a ten-year time horizon so that didn’t matter much. Once returns from 1999 and 2000 fall off that scale, it will. Returns will look at or below the S&P 500 for what is supposed to be a niche, high-risk/high-reward asset class. It takes forever to correct because fund cylces are so long, and the asset class is so illiquid. But it won’t go uncorrected, and the witching hour is getting close.

What does this have to do with money going out to startups? VCs are scared for the first time in a long time. There’s no obvious high growth sector of the tech economy, and their investors are hit in nearly every nook and cranny of their portfolios. They’re not sure how to do their jobs anymore when nothing can go public and acquisitions are few and far between.

I suspect, even though the VC industry is so young in India, that the reverberations will be felt here as well.

What is your feel? Any pointers to up to date data for India?

The Startup Chat. Every Saturday 10am - 5pm.

There is a lot of knowledge that resides among people, and not everybody is able to make it to real-life meets. In an increasingly connected world, it might make sense to make use of the technology that exists. There are also a lot of folks - aspiring entrepreneurs in tier II cities who do want to make it to the ranks, but do lack the know-how to move forward.

Here’s a means to solve that Problem.

Proto.in, along with VentureWoods and a host of other partners have started this online chat initiative called The Startup Chat. It will be live every Saturday between 10am - 5pm (IST) and people can connect to the site, login, and interact with people to get support in whatever they might be looking for.

It would be great to have the support of this community - as there are lots of mature and experienced entrepreneurs here. Do login and help out. And it would be great to catch up with all of you in real time as well. Look forward to seeing you there.

URL: http://chat.proto.in

Notes from GSMA

Eli Novershten from Canaan Israel office was at GSMA last month, and has shared his takeouts from the conference. I hope it is useful. Please use the fullscreen mode at bottom right of the widget for clarity.

It seems that cell phones are beginning to come across as a shock to mobile telecom companies! The manner in which non-telecom companies are able to stretch the envelope on an essentially telecom device has made them sit up and watch. Be it the iPhone, or other areasin entertainment, advertising, and so on (typically not within a telco competence set.) There is a catchup play here. Equally strong is the shift away from newer infrastructure, especially as many telcos, especially in Europe, have struggled to reap gains from their cutting edge infra investments over past few years.

Enjoy!

Barcamp Indore - 22nd Mar

We invite you to be a part of the first ever BarCamp Indore being hosted by IIM Indore. A BarCamp is an ad-hoc ‘un-conference’ born from the desire of people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join.

With a focus on Entrepreneurship and Emerging Technologies this event promises to be an exciting confluence of ideas and passions. To learn more about BarCamp Indore you can follow us on Twitter, visit our Wiki or catch us on Facebook.

For registration, please visit here

You can also drop us a mail or call us for any clarifications and queries.

Ways in which you can be a part of BarCamp Indore are:
• Sponsoring all or part of the event (T-shirt and banner sponsorships)
• Demoing your technology to fellow BarCampers
• Simply attending the event and blogging, flickring, or tweeting about it

BarCamp Indore
Date: 22nd March, 2009
Time: 11 A.M.
Venue : IIM Indore (getting there)

Contact Details
Kumar Gaurav Gupta | 9907-664-688 | p08gauravg@iimidr.ac.in
Aditya Jaiswal | 9907-664-788 | p08adityaj@iimidr.ac.in
A Joint Initiative by E-cell and Infiniti at IIM Indore

National business plan Competition - Bizconp2009

Business Plan competition (BizComp2009) organized by  Sri Jayachamarajendra college of engineering-Science and Technology entrepreneurs Park (SJCE-STEP), who has pioneered entrepreneurship development and incubation.

BizComp2009 is conducted in association with National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India and Sri Jayachamarajendra college of engineering (SJCE) under TEQIP assistance.

The objective of BizComp2009 is to provide an opportunity to graduate students of engineering and post graduate students of management to compete on a national level and get their business plans validated by experts from industry, academia and venture capitalists and other funding agencies. The competition is open to those who have a primary business idea, fire to succeed as an entrepreneur and showcase an understanding of Economy, Business Potential, Financials, and Technology & Innovations.

Entries are received on- line following a formal registration. The executive summaries are first examined and the top 30 are allowed to upload the business plans in the second stage. Finally top 8 business plans will be evaluated by an elite panel at the presentation defense in the third stage at Mysore. The top 3 teams will receive cash prizes of Rs.1,00,000/-, Rs.60,000/-, Rs.40,000/-respectively. In addition they along with other participants will be offered incubation support at Mysore, sister STEPs at Bangalore & Noida and other STEPs.

You may visit www.bizcomp.in to take a look at the details of the competition

Warm regards,

D.P. Shivakumar
Chief Executive
SJCE-STEP, Mysore
Phone:
+91-821-2548321, 9972534383