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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Internet is definitely here to stay

Amit Patni
Co-founder and Chairman-Nirvana Venture Advisors
Monday, March 5, 2012
Amit Patni
After the successful acquisition by iGate, the founders of Patni Computer Systems have entered the venture space with Nirvana Venture Advisors, an early growth stage fund. Just a few months old, the firm has already made its first investment in YourNextLeap.com, a Pune-based internet start-up that offers virtual career counseling to students. Amit Patni, Co-founder and Chairman, Nirvana Venture Advisors talks about the fund, and the areas they look to investment in.

The focus @ Nirvana Venture Advisors

'Nirvana Venture Advisors' is going to raise $75 million venture out of which the amount will be invested in early stage and growth stage startups. Certain amount is contributed by the Patni family and we are looking to raise another $30 million by the end of March this year. Our focus primarily is on the internet platform. We believe India has come to a stage where we see an exponential growth in the internet usage and the mobile usage. The entire ecosystem consisting of E-Commerce and E-Retail, content, gaming, cloud computing and others are making a big mark and promising a great future for India. Nirvana is an early stage and middle stage fund. We are looking to cover the entire digital space like mobile applications, game content, ecommerce and others, prefer to avoid enterprise software and services area. We create value as a product as several consumers are there on the internet. Out of $75 million we plan to fund 10 to 12 companies with $7 million to $8 million per company.

Internet & Mobile - The big trend to bet on

The internet is definitely here to stay. The Internet usage in India has reached 100 million and we see great projections in the near future. The internet reach in India has gone far and wide with the launch of 2G and now the 3G. And in the next two years, with Reliance launching 4G, the internet usage and connectivity will surely improve for better. We also have various providers who give amazing service in terms of DSL lines, broadband and WiFi. The second interesting factor is that we have 600 to 700 million active mobile users which is again a huge market. Until now, the internet usage through mobiles was less but with the connectivity becoming so good and the advent of smart phones, the android technology and so on, will create more and more applications on the mobile. This will make a huge difference in the E-Commerce industry pushing everything to the mobile.


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