Naspers Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for South Africa-based internet and media group Naspers, has set up an Indian office in Bengaluru, the Economic Times reported today.
Naspers has already invested roughly $1.5bn in India-based companies, which include e-commerce firm Flipkart and Ibibo, the online travel booking platform acquired by competitor MakeMyTrip last month.
The company formed Naspers Ventures in as a dedicated venture capital unit in May this year and has set up offices in the US and Singapore.
Ashutosh Sharma has been recruited from venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners to head up the new office and will lead Naspers’ VC and M&A deals in India.
Sharma was a vice-president for Norwest in India, having previously been an investment manager at Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, between 2010 and 2012.
Naspers Ventures is already exploring deals in India, and is seeking deals where it will invest between $10m and $50m in companies developing consumer internet, e-commerce, healthcare, education and logistics technologies in return for a minority stake.