Cisco dons the investor's hat for India

NEW DELHI: Networking major, Cisco Systems is on the move again to identify companies, especially start-ups, plum for investment. However, this time around, its hunting ground is India and the company has introduced its direct investment practice into the country for the first time.

Cisco has identified five technology areas wherein it would be looking at companies, which it could invest into. These include consumer broadband, Wi-Fi, storage network, VoIP and network security. So far, only Intel has a significant strategy for such investments in the Indian market.

While not putting a cap on the amount of investment it would make, it asserts that the company would pick up only a minority stake and is not looking at acquisitions. The nature of the investments would be that of an early to mid-stage VC funding. "We have invested in over 100 companies during last 10 years across US, Europe and APAC. With India being a hotbed for technology companies, it was logical for us to bring the practice here as well," said Cisco Systems manager-business development Sameer Mehta. Cisco has invested close to $300 million in companies in the APAC region, over last five years.

He further added that the prospective companies could be on the hardware as well as software side. "Organizations whose technology focus drives the adoption of IP-networks are the ones we would be looking forward to," elaborated Cisco Systems India MD, S Devarajan. He also didn't deny the possibility of considering some of company's existing channel partners in the country for investment.