The Hindu Business Line : IBM Venture Capital mulls tie-ups with start-ups

Seeking to play an active role in fostering innovation in India's technology arena, the IBM Venture Capital Group proposes to forge partnerships with local start-ups and also bring its major VC partners into the country. Senior officials of IBM VC Group are on an exploratory trip to India to get a feel of innovation eco-system in the country.

The Managing Director of IBM VC Group, Ms Claudia Fan Munce, told Business Line that the company was looking at opportunities to partner with start-ups in areas of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), healthcare, open source technologies among others.

Contacts

Unlike other VCs or organisations, the IBM VC Group does not manage a fund of its own. But it maintains contacts around the world looking to partner with companies with new ideas and technologies that complement its product line and service offerings.

By partnering with start-ups, IBM not only provides the entrepreneurs an access to leading venture capitalists, but also brings them in contact with its client companies, thereby, expanding the market reach. IBM currently partners with around 1,300 start-ups worldwide.

Ms Claudia Fan Munce met a host of VCs, their portfolio companies and select start-ups on Wednesday at an event organised by IBM to discuss how to foster an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Technology shift

Sharing a VC's perspective, Mr Pramod Haque, Managing Partner, Norwest Venture Partners, said that innovation of new technologies is always done in collaboration with early adopters.

Mr Haque predicted that there would be a tremendous shift in India by 2012 when the country would emerge as an early adopter of technology, which should augur well for innovation.

Forced by the rapidly rising wages, companies in India will be forced to rely heavily on technology to boost their productivity gains, offset the impact of wage rise and maintain their competitiveness, Mr Haque said.