Wipro Ventures invests in 18 early and mid-stage startups since inception in 2015

Wipro Ventures has deployed more than two-thirds of its corpus in 18 startups, according to media reports. The $100 million Wipro Ventures is the strategic investment arm of Wipro and focuses on investing in early-to-mid-stage startups. It leverages Wipro’s global reach and market knowledge to accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies. [caption id=“attachment_2904346” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Wipro. Reuters[/caption] It has helped its parent Wipro win over 100 deals – 14 in the US, three in Israel and one in Pune-based data startup Altizon Systems Pvt Ltd. “As of date we have committed more than $65 million in the capital,” said Venu Pemmaraju, a managing partner at Wipro Ventures, a report in Mint said. Indian IT companies have been proactively embracing startups through mergers, acquisitions and investment activity to bridge the innovation gap, according to research firm CB Insights. Top IT companies such as HCL Tech and Wipro have picked up stakes in five startups during 2012-17, according to CB Insights. Between 2015-2017, Wipro invested $24.5 million in nine startups, according to annual filings with the US Securities Exchange Commission. Last year in June, Rishad Premji, NASSCOM Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer and Member of the Board, Wipro Limited, had said that start-ups in India would see substantial growth over the next decade and many of them would turn into world-class organisations to lead the next phase of building “brand India” in a broader technology landscape. Premji had called for enhancing the lens beyond just thinking and looking at the IT services landscape but also to focus on other ecosystems of capabilities that are thriving in the country. He had expressed optimism over the future of the start-up ecosystem in the country. He had cited a report titled Perspective 2025: Shaping the Digital Revolution’ by the NASSCOM which said the Indian technology and services industry is on track to reach its goal of $200-225 billion in revenues by 2020 and may even touch $350 billion by 2025. “I am quite hopeful that if we do many things right, one of which is the skilling piece, he said. There isa huge opportunity for the industry not only to survive but to thrive over the next 8-10 years,” he had said. With inputs from PTI