Xiaomi’s founder is betting on India as the happy hunting ground for technology unicorns
Venture capital firm Shunwei Capital sees attractive early-stage investment opportunities in Indian mobile app start-ups, and is confident their rapidly developing technologies will overcome the country’s network bottleneck
Shunwei Capital, the venture capital firm cofounded by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, expects the development of the Indian mobile internet sector to closely mirror that of China, making the subcontinent’s mobile app start-ups highly attractive for early-stage investments.
Tuck Lye Koh, chief executive and founding partner, expects the next batch of unicorns – or venture-backed private companies valued at US$1 billion or above – to emerge out of the Indian mobile internet sector, as the nation migrates to low-cost smartphones from feature phones.
Over the past 12 months, Shunwei Capital has invested in eight Indian mobile app start-ups, including ShareChat, mobile video app Clip, mobile gaming Mech Mocha, and e-books and self-publishing platform Pratilipi.
Shunwei Capital scouts for early-stage investments and provides financing up to series B, typically of around US$10 million each.
We believe our investment experience in China gives us the advantage in our investment decisions in India
“If we pick our investment carefully, some of these start-ups could grow into the next unicorns of Asia. We believe our investment experience in China gives us the advantage in our investment decisions in India,” said Koh.
Shunwei Capital’s interest in the Indian mobile sector has come despite the country’s mobile infrastructure still facing connectivity bottlenecks.