Intel's venture fund in talks with IT start-ups in Bengal

KOLKATA: Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of the US chip giant Intel Corporation, is in talks with the West Bengal government for financing some of the promising IT start-ups in the state. A clutch of 20 start-up software firms have already held an initial round of talks with Intel Capital managing director (India, Japan, Australasia and South East Asia) Sudheer Kuppam, who was in the city recently.

Confirming the development, Debanjan Datta, managing director of Webel, the IT arm of the state, told ET: “From the state government side, we are taking a structured approach to drive the growth of IT. As part of this, Webel had organised an interactive meeting between the Intel Capital top brass, including Sudheer Kuppam, and 20-odd small start-up IT companies specialising in software. The software firms have put forward some of their proposals, which are now being scrutinised by Intel Capital.”

Incidentally, India is one of the important emerging markets for Intel Capital. The venture capital outfit, in 2006, had invested about $1.07 billion in 163 deals with approximately 60% of funds invested outside the US. Intel Capital focuses on both established and new technology firms that help to develop industry standard solutions, drive global internet growth, facilitate new usage models and advance computing and communications platforms.

Webel has plans to invite more venture capital funds in the next few months. “This initiative was lacking in the state, which is rich in the knowledge-based industry like IT and ITeS. The first meeting has only dealt with IT firms with expertise in software. We plan to bring in venture capital funds in all sectors of information technology. We have also decided to take help of IIM Calcutta to structure the business proposals of the IT firms that will be placed before the venture capital companies,” Mr Datta further added.

In fact, IIM Calcutta director Sekhar Chaudhuri is on the board of Webel. “We had an initial talk with IIM Calcutta. We will have fresh rounds of negotiations with them next month,” the Webel MD said. This new move is likely to help the state to achieve its long-term goal to find a place in the top three IT states in the country and contribute 15-20% of the country’s IT revenues by 2010. West Bengal has around 20 million sq ft of infospace under construction, an additional 20-30 million sq ft that is proposed for satellite hubs and 8-10 special economic zones proposals from various tech companies.