Former Bell Labs president Arun Netravali is setting up a $250 million venture capital fund which will invest in the United States-based start-up companies in telecom and technology areas, which would be outsourcing to India.
"We are expecting to raise $250 million in the VC fund. We will invest in the start-up companies and help them succeed, by helping the management, cutting overhead costs by outsourcing," Arun Netravali, president (emeritus), Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies Inc, told newspersons on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry conference in New Delhi on Saturday.
He did not give an idea of the average size of investments to be made in start-ups, but said the fund would pick minority stakes in these companies.
Part of the expected $250 million has already come in, he said.
"We want to bring outsourcing which has mostly been handled for large and medium sized companies to the world of start-ups in the technology and telecom areas," Netravali said.
"Start-ups have been concerned about bringing outsourcing and it is a valid concern because in the start-up world, things change all the time. So our goal is to figure out how to facilitate outsourcing by telling people to understand the value of it and reducing the fear that the start-ups may have in terms of outsourcing and reducing the overheads."
For small company doing outsourcing thousand of miles away, it was more difficult, Netravali said.
