And now, a venture fund with an Indian flavour

BANGALORE: A group of three Indian entrepreneurs who have made it big in the
Silicon Valley wants to contribute to their motherland’s fledgling breed of
Internet entrepreneurs in a different way. They are not just investing money in
these new projects, they are also not starting their own ventures here. They
"want to do more than that".

P.V. Kannan and Shanmugam Nagarajan, who had founded Business Evolution, which
was bought over by Kana Communications for a staggering $140 million last year,
along with Sudhakar Kosaraju, have set up a $10-million fund to realise their
dream in India.

According to Kannan (pvkannan@hotmail.com),
who will head the fund, the group will identify the promising entrepreneur in
the Internet area and help them launch their business. "Depending on the
kind of business they are into, we will talk to a successful Indian IT
professional in the US and get him to adopt the company as a mentor. The US
Indian can invest in the company through our fund," pointed out Kannan,
adding that this would provide the Indian entrepreneur access the US business
model.

Kannan said that the first investment in an IT enabled services would be
announced by the fund in about 4-8 weeks. When asked if the fund would be
identified as a venture fund in India, he said that the legal aspects were yet
to be worked out. "We will perhaps be a combination of a venture capital
and an incubator," pointed out Nagarajan.

We will be able to offer the Indian entrepreneurs knowledge about the segment
he would enter and advise on aspects such as listing on Nasdaq. The fund will
however target only start-ups in the Internet area. Kannan said that the team
was looking at an investment time frame of less than a year. "That is a
long time on the Internet," he added.

Business Evolution, founded by Kannan and Nagarajan in 1997 was acquired by
Kana Communications, leader in the segment with more than 80 per cent market
share. Business Evolution, with staff strength of barely 65, was engaged in
developing online customer communication software. Kosaraju, an American of
Indian origin, is a senior official in PlanetRx.