Infosys expands startup fund five-fold, appoints former M&A head Deepak Padki to lead it

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: Infosys, the second largest IT player in India, expanded its global innovation to fund to $500 million, from $100 million, as it looks to focus on new ideas and products, and has appointed its former head of M&A to lead its engagement with startups.

“The company has expanded its innovation fund ….to support the creation of a global eco-system of strategic partners. The capital will be used to invest into young companies world-wide innovating in areas such as AI, Automation, Internet of Things, Collaboration and Design,” Infosys said in its third-quarter earnings announcement.

The $100 million innovation fund was created in 2013, but experts said the entry of Vishal Sikka as CEO would make the company put the capital to work. In August, ET reported that Sikka had started looking for potential ideas to invest in after the company’s top executives met startup founders from the Bay Area, and professors and students at Stanford.

The company has appointed Deepak Padki, who earlier headed its merger and acquisitions team, as Head of Corporate Strategy. Padki will be leading the engagement of Infosys with startups, ET learns.

Over the year-and-a-half, cross-town Wipro, under Rishad Premji, has already picked up equity stakes in two US-based startups, New Jersey-based data analytics firm Opera Solutions and machine-to-machine learning and Internet of things solution provider Axeda.