US investors are keen to provide funding to Indian start-ups which create products and services for the global markets, according to Murali Bukkapatnam, Chair, TiE Global.

The investors are more interested in AI-powered global products and services, especially in the areas of healthcare, agri-tech, sustainability and deep-tech.

“The US investors are undoubtedly looking at Indian start-ups. They want to see the Indian entrepreneurs trying to create global products, not just serving the Indian market. Because of either the dollar parity or the purchasing power parity, our ability to pay for the services is little low compared to the European markets or the US markets. So how do I bridge? That is the question. Do I have the ability to produce the global products from India? That is where I think your market has to be, and that is where the Indian entrepreneurs can get the investments into their start-ups,” Bukkapatnam told businessline.

Bukkapatnam has recently been elected as the Chair of the Global Board of Trustees for The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global network of entrepreneurs, for the year 2025.

“We have 29 chapters in North America itself. The members of these 29 chapters are looking into investing in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Majority of our members are of Indian diaspora. They want to look at India because they don’t want to miss out the wave of investment into the start-ups in India,” he said, adding the TiE Angels will act as a bridge for the members to invest into the Indian start-ups.

TiE Angels is one of the largest angel groups in Silicon Valley that brings together promising early stage companies and exposes them to serial entrepreneurs, high tech executives, and other professional investors.

Before making investment decisions, investors conduct a lot of due diligence and look at the sustainability of the business model of a start-up. “So when it comes to funding, at the end of the day, we have to see whether the entrepreneur can survive and whether he has the right mindset and whether the business model is correct. We will go through that process. We want to ensure that the entrepreneur has the right business plan,” said the TiE Global Chair.

TiE has expanded its presence to 15 countries and 63 chapters with more than 15,000 members and 3000 charter members. It has influenced the growth of over 25,000 start-ups across the globe with a quantum of investments of $50-70 billion.

Bukkapatnam said Europe is also seeing entrepreneurs from India to be very reliable partners for their success. “Hence, I am hopeful that in the next three to five years you see a robust entrepreneurial economy enabled by TiE in Europe. We have a lot of inquiries to open chapters in Paris. We had a chapter in Portugal. There is an interest to revive the chapters in that country. Then Turkey is the other place where we are getting inquiries from. Belgium is the other place,” he added.

Interestingly, TiE is also getting inquiries from China to look into the possibility of setting up a chapter in Beijing.

Published on March 21, 2025