Google Setting Up Its Capital Arm In India To Invest In Growth-Stage Startups

Startups in India have a reason to rejoice. Tech giant Google is planning to cash on the blooming startup scene in India by doubling down its investments in Indian startups. The California based company is even setting up its own growth capital arm in the country for the same.

The Indian startup scene has already attracted big names like Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba and Japanese communications group Softbank in the past.  Google Capital is looking to hire a team and start investing in growth stage companies in India right away. According to an interview given to the Economic Times by David Lawee, partner at Google Capital, "It made a lot of sense to focus a lot of attention here now.”

According to Lawee, India would account for about 30 percent of world’s billion dollar companies in a period of next 3-7 years. The popularity of the Indian startup ecosystem can be predicted from the fact that companies like Paytm and Flipkart are notching up funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars at multi- billion dollar valuations.

The California based tech giant also invests in early-stage startups through Google ventures. According to Lawee, the companies in India have much more upside than most of the companies that he has seen in the United States.

According to Lawee, who is also a social entrepreneur, the tech giant’s decision to set up office in India is the most important decision that the California based company has taken in the past few months. Lawee and his team have met around 25 startups and candidates who have the potential to head Google Capital’s operations in India. The team, which has been in India for less than a week, has already interviewed more than hundred people for the job.

The amount that Google Capital is looking to invest in India hasn’t been disclosed yet. According to Lawee, the company will invest up to the limit of what’s reasonable. Lawee was a head of corporate development at Google until the year 2012. Google’s equity arm has invested nearly $500 million in eleven companies since it was established in the year 2013. It plans to pump in another $300 million this year.
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