Cisco Investments, a corporate venturing unit owned by networking technology company Cisco, is set to allocate $40m to early-stage companies in India, it said on Monday.
The funding will be directed towards products and technologies that are relevant to India and other emerging markets, including big data analytics, internet of things, connected mobility, storage, silicon and the content technology ecosystem.
Cisco’s first investment under the India Innovation banner was made in factory data analytics provider Covacsis Technologies at the start of this month, following funding provided for Bangalore-based cloud development platform Mobstac in December 2013.
“Creating this $40m pool can enrich our portfolio and go to market,” said Joydeep Bose, managing director of corporate development for Cisco Asia Pacific & Japan. “It’s a combination of products and solutions that we have and that are brought by our partners. Look at this as acceleration. This is one of the first steps we are taking in that direction.”
The funding will make up part of the $250m of investment earmarked by Cisco Investments earlier this year for early-stage investments. Cisco has also announced that $150m will be invested in Canadian startups.