**OT**HCL Tech co-founder Subhash Arora to set up $100 mil VCF in India
hcltechnologies.com
Baburajan K
MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 23: India Inc appears to be the new found paradise for angel investors. The newest entrant is Subhash Arora, the co-founder of the HCL group.
After leaving the group about a year and half ago, Arora in his new avatar as an angel investor, will begin with a kitty of about $100 million for Indian start-ups.
Hitherto, Arora's focus has been in start-ups based in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and the US. He is planning to set up a venture capital fund in the country shortly. Sources close to Arora said the venture capital fund will invest in software and telecom companies.
It is learnt that Arora is holding marginal stakes in some HCL group of companies. The present market capitalisation of HCL group firms has made Arora confident of injecting huge funds in start-ups, according to industry analysts.
Sources said Arora has already picked up equity in Techspan of Singapore for an undisclosed amount. Arora is currently on the board of directors of Techspan and lives in Singapore. Another investment in that country was in a WAP technology company.
Recently, Arora, in his individual capacity, acquired close to 20 per cent equity stake in the Mumbai-based cyberITmall.com. The funds in cyberITmall form part of the total investment committed to the Indian market. When contacted, Arora told The Financial Express that he was looking at India for similar opportunities. "My main idea is to offer my expertise in the infotech industry. The proposed alliance with start-ups will help them access more markets," he added. "We will be investing funds in the range of $5 million to $20 million in start-ups. However, we are expecting favourable guidelines from the Government on the venture capital investments in the country," Arora said here on Wednesday. However, Arora declined to divulge additional details about the proposed investments in India.
Industry analysts said many venture capital funds and individuals are also looking at India as a place for their investments.
-Financial Express |
