Global networking major Cisco, which has set aside a corpus of $280 million for funding early stage start-ups in India, has invested in Kolkata-based Videonetics Technology Pvt Ltd, a video surveillance firm that designs, develops and provides ultra-modern surveillance products integrated with video analytics software.
While the amount invested remains undisclosed, Cisco typically acquires an 18-20 per cent stake in every start-up that it invests in. In an earlier interaction with BusinessLine, Joydeep Bose, Managing Director of Cisco Investments – Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), had said the company typically makes investments ranging from $800,000 to $15 million in a start-up.
Confirming the investment in Videonetics, Alok Bardiya, Country Head (Investments and M&A), Cisco Systems India , told BusinessLine that a second investment has also been closed in a start-up that works on IoT (Internet of Things) solutions for Smart Cities, an area that Cisco is heavily focused on to grow its India revenues.
Revenue milestone
Last year, the company crossed the $1-billion milestone in India revenue and is aiming to achieve $2 billion by FY 2018.
Without disclosing the name of the start-up, Bardiya said: “There are two more investments in the pipeline that we should close soon.” This takes Cisco’s investments in Indian start-ups to a total of six over the last 18 months, and with two more in the pipeline, it will take the total tally of investments to eight by the end of the year.
The $49-billion networking giant has already invested in four Indian start-ups over the last two years, namely, Covacsis, Mobstac, Ineda and MobiKwik.
The company’s innovation strategy in India revolves around four pillars – Invest; Acquire; Co-create with start-ups; Co-develop with partners.
While Cisco made its first India acquisition of Bengaluru-headquartered IT security firm Pawaa for an undisclosed amount last October, it has invested in a total of 25 Indian start-ups, some of which are registered abroad, over the last 10 years.
The company’s first attempt at co-creating with start-ups took wings on Thursday, with the announcement of Cisco LaunchPad, an accelerator programme to co-innovate with early to growth stage start-ups.
Partnerships have been forged with companies like Tech Mahindra, Saankhya Labs and industry body Nasscom to co-develop solutions for Utilities, Internet users and Farmers.
Asked if Cisco had identified any start-up to acquire after Pawaa, Bardiya said: “We continue to look for start-ups that are building disruptive solutions that align with Cisco’s business interests.”
