Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of US-listed chip maker Intel, has agreed to invest $20m in six India-based companies using its $250m India Technology Fund set up in 2005.
The six deals are for Saankhya Labs, a fabless semiconductor company; TestingCzars, which tests mobile applications; What’s on India, an electronic television programme guide formerly known as MediaE2E; electronic payments provider EnStage that has venture capital firm Accel on its board; solar power products maker Duron Energy that was incubated at US-based IdeaLab; and Financial Inclusion Network and Operations (Fino), a business and banking technology platform provider selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 25 technology pioneers for 2012.
Intel had been a prior investor in Fino, alongside bank HSBC and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation as part of a R70 crore round in January last year.
Navin Shenoy, vice-president of Asia-Pacific at Intel, said: "As PC [personal computer] ownership rises among Indian households, there is growing demand for online services and content."
However, newswire Reuters said Sudheer Kumar Kuppam (pictured), managing director for Asia Pacific at Intel Capital, warned valuations of early-stage technology companies in India had reached a "near-bubble" stage.
"It’s crazy. I am not drawing parallels, but it feels like ’99 in the US," he said.
"This is not a good sign. Most of the time, we evaluate companies and we have to leave it at that stage as we feel valuations were too high," Kuppam told Reuters.