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Virtualisation software maker VMWare is looking at Indian start-ups to expand its consumer technology reach through strategic investments and possible acquisitions, a top executive said.
“There are several (start-ups) who we see every now and then that has got really cool idea, the first thing we tell them is find a joint customer, plug into our platform and let us just play it out 6-12-18 months and then sometimes we may even make investment in that company and if that is successful that conversation might change,” said Sanjay Poonen, Executive Vice-President, VMWare, pointing out that the company is on a lookout for possible stake buyout or an acquisition in India.
“I think that if you look at the four or five most successful Internet related ideas, Amazon Facebook, Google, Twitter, Uber, Airbnb, there will be Indian equivalence of those, all those companies are trying to come into India and that is happening as we speak with Flipkart. If I talk to my friends the biggest sensation right now is Flipkart and is that going to be a threat to Amazon,” he said.
In October, the company acquired a mobile e-mail app firm Boxer to tap into the end user segment. Poonen said VMWare will use the technology to offer enterprises secure e-mail service through Boxer. He said although the company is looking to acquire companies with consumer technology, VMWare won't get into consumer offerings. It would instead use these technologies to improve the workflow for users within an enterprise.
“We are not a consumer-oriented company like a Google where we are trying to get to every consumer’s device. We come into play the moment the consumer device comes into the enterprise,” Poonen said.
Poonen said the company is extremely bullish on India after holding meetings with the government. Poonen met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the US and expressed his intentions towards investing in India.
“Modi was in the US in the Silicon Valley. Some 100-200 executives of Silicon Valley met with him and he was treated like a darling in the Silicon Valley. He has definitely endeared himself to the tech community. We think of this as a strong opportunity for us to invest in this country for this to be a big part of our growth,” he said.
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