WSJ.com - India Draws U.S. Financiers: "India Draws U.S. Financiers
Venture Capitalists Invest Directly
In the Nation's High-Tech Firms
By REBECCA BUCKMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 7, 2005
Venture capitalists have recently encouraged high-technology start-ups to set up offices in India, where they can hire low-cost engineers and outsource basic programming tasks. Now some of those financiers are taking a different tack: investing directly in Indian high-tech companies.
The trend, still in its early stages, shows how India is slowly moving up the high-tech food chain. It is a development already seen in China, where U.S. venture capitalists have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into start-up companies that are tapping a tech-savvy middle class -- despite the hassles of managing investments thousands of miles from home.
Now India is moving on the same path.
[Wipro employees undergo training to provide services to overseas clients, in Bangalore, India.]
Wipro employees undergo training to provide services to overseas clients, in Bangalore, India.
'We see ourselves making more direct investments there,' says Promod Haque, a managing partner with Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, Calif. Today, Norwest is expected to announce its first financing of an Indian-based company: a $13.8 million investment i"
