Computer networking and equipment corporation Cisco is planning an exit from another of its India-based portfolio companies in the next quarter following the sale of its stake in Netmagic last week, according to Indian newspaper Business Standard on Monday.
Cisco exited India-based data centre company Netmagic to Japan-based telecommunications conglomerate NTT, which bought up stakes owned by Nokia Growth Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and Fidelity International at the same time, giving it a 74% stake in Netmagic.
Companies in India backed by Cisco include gaming company Indiagames, mobile telecom services provider media and entertainment corporation Comviva, and digital content provider Shekhar Kapur Digital Media.
Cisco has also partnered with education and corporate training company Global Talent Track, and is one of the corporate backers of the Aaviskaar India micro venture capital fund, which provides microequity investments to small startups which are devising ideas which can aid economic growth in the country.
Joydeep Bose, who oversees corporate development via investments and acquisitions for the Asia/Pacific/Japan region at Cisco, was quoted as saying: "We follow a typical VC agreement culture when we make the funding. We intend to exit a company in four to six years."
Bose added: "We are seeing the adoption of technologies like [Long Term Evolution wireless communication] and national broadband network in the Asia Pacific and Japan regions. India ranks number one in terms of our focus followed by Japan and Australia… we may invest in four-five deals in the next 12 months."