The Hindu Business Line : Canaan Partners bullish on India

Canaan Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that specialises in early-stage investing,has announced that it has opened its investment office in India, near Delhi.

Sighting the enormous opportunity in the Indian market, Canaan will initially focus on the Internet and wireless investments in the country. According to Mr Alok Mittal, Executive Director, Canaan India, Canaan will focus on early- and mid-stage investments, which offer greater growth potential.

Early stage cos

"We typically invest around $3 million-4 million in early stage companies. We are ready to provide first rounds of institutional capital and are already receiving many interesting business proposals," he said adding that Canaan has already reviewed about 40 business plans, about half of which are getting additional scrutiny.

Mr Mittal is co-founder of JobsAhead.com and a founding member of Band of Angels India. Mr Deepak Kamra, a General Partner at Canaan Partners, said, "We see a huge potential in the Indian market and we are hopeful that the New Delhi office could eventually rival the size of the firm's Menlo Park office. We believe that we can act as catalysts for companies in India by building and assisting them on strategic operations and business models, market development, and corporate partnering."

Track record

Canaan Partners already has an Indian investment track record. In 2000, it invested in Aztec Software, a software development firm that services the software industry, and in e4e, a diversified business-outsourcing firm. These were intentionally late-stage investments because early-stage investments were risky and management talent was scarce at the time.

In the US, Canaan was an early-stage investor in successful US-based Internet companies such as DoubleClick, CommerceOne, Match.com and Blue Frog Mobile.

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