According to Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA) about $750 million of venture capital was invested in 2003. It is slated to touch about $1 billion by end of 2004. While funding has been seeing growth in India in the last few years, the recently held siliconindia Venture Summit in Bangalore was the first of its kind that brought venture capitalists and entrepreneurs together for an intense workshop-style session.

For the entrepreneurs, this event provided an opportunity to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas, and for the investors it was a chance to catch the start-up teams in early stages. “Only the venue is different. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you are at the Marriott in Santa Clara, this is exactly what happens in the Valley. There were quality entrepreneurs with good ideas,” said Amish Jani of Pequot Ventures.

Over 100 Indian entrepreneurs met up with global VCs to discuss their ideas. Some of the big names in the Venture Capital community like Pequot Capital, Bank of America Equity Partners, Soft Bank Asia, Nokia Ventures, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Intel Capital, IBM Venture Group, Charles River Ventures, ICF Ventures, Oak Investments, Artiman Ventures took part in the event. Even Indian Venture Capital firms like ICICI Venture, WestBridge Capital, UTI Venture Fund participated in the event.

During the two-day summit, VCs discussed about investment trends, strategies for investing in early stage ventures, strategies on how to find & access capital, what they look for in early stage companies, the kinds of companies they find most attractive, and the do’s and don’ts in structuring deals.“Rejecting an idea does not mean it is bad, it is just that the idea in that context does not represent a business,” comments Sujit Banerjee at Nokia Ventures.

There was a special session on ‘Structuring your company to become a global enterprise’ conducted by Pillsbury Winthrop, a reputed international law firm.