Like China, India is becoming a must-invest destination for US venture capital firms. Norwest, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia Capital are some of the funds that have invested in India and Indian companies. The latest to join the party is Matrix Partners, which has just closed $150 million Matrix India Fund. The new fund is headed by Avnish Bajaj of baazee.com (an auction company bought by eBay) and Rishi Navani, who formerly headed WestBridge Capital Partners that recently merged with Sequoia Capital. (Press release in PDF.)
The Mumbai-based fund, raised in partnership with Matrix Partners in the U.S., will be invested over five to seven years and will focus on early and growth stage funding of consumer services companies. Matrix India will provide risk capital to companies in the Internet, mobile, financial services, media and entertainment, healthcare, travel and leisure categories.
Matrix Partners has already invested $100 million in India through its $1.3 billion hedge fund. Almost 70% of the firms in the company’s fund have their research and development presence in India. Venture Intelligence that private equity deals in India rose sharply to $3.5 billion across 146 transactions in the first half of 2006 compared with $795 million through 67 deals in the same period last year.
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