Last November, at IBF’s Investing in India conference, Vinod Khosla noted that India tends to be ten years behind China. “So if you missed the boat on China, you don’t want to miss the boat on India,” said Khosla. You could feel the anxiousness in the room. Since then, VCs have kept a close eye on India, leading to reports of an all too familiar scenario. Too much money chasing too few deals, and a dearth of very early stage funding.
And haven’t we heard this story before? Remember the last bubble and the India funds that didn’t go anywhere? No doubt, many tourist VCs will get burnt in India- much as they will in China. Still, the bold India strategies of some top US VC firms should be noted. And each one of the top tier firms is using their own different twist in discovering opportunities in India.
