The firm which has a current committed capital in excess of $2.2 billion, is expected to have its office in Bangalore within the next quarter.
The VC firm is high on hardware start-ups and has been involved in funding some of the top-draw firms such as Legato (now part of EMC), Trilogy, Clarus, Xircom (now part of Intel), Ascend Communications (now part of Lucent), besides the best of breed software companies such as Red Hat and Double Click.
According to industry watchers, the decision for Greylock to have its direct presence is fuelled by the emergence of hardware companies in India and the opportunity to take these companies global.
The decision of Greylock comes close on the heels of a series of high-profile VC firms from the US setting up direct presence in India.
This is backed by the fact that close to $1.1 billion was committed by private equity and venture firms in India during 2004. Compound this with the boom in technology in India as an outsourcing destination, and you have the perfect timing for a VC to be here.
Greylock's move to have its presence in Bangalore comes close on the heels of its decision to beef up its investments in Israel by appointing two new venture partners to support its global initiatives.
Greylock in Israel adopts a strategy of making investments from one US fund in partnership with local Israeli VC firms in identifying IT, networking and communications opportunities.
It is not yet clear whether Greylock will have an India-specific fund or will adopt the same Israeli model. The firm in its past four decades of investments has had eleven limited partnerships.
