Nasscom to launch Venture Fund

Nasscom is set to launch a Venture Fund along with Hyderabad-based ICICI Knowledge Park, an arm of the ICICI bank.

Rajdeep Sehrawat, vice president of Nasscom, said the new Venture Fund will be under the trade body but will run as a professional Venture Fund.

“We have earmarked Rs 100 crore ($22million)to fund IT start-ups in India, which are involved in IP-creation. These companies could be anyone who is working on automotive electronics, wireless and broadband, life sciences, medical devices and the like,”

he informed.

Stating that the venture fund will be in place by October this year, Sehrawat said the fund will be looking at disbursing seed capital or angel funding, which other venture capital firms hesitate to enter.

“We will be financing early start-ups, in their ideation stage, as this is where money is a problem. When the idea takes the prototype stage, then other VCs will be interested and we will be exiting,”

he said.

“We have not limited on the number of projects, but have earmarked Rs 100 crores. Our vision for the Venture Fund will be on long-term, high-risk categories,”

he added.

via: CIOL