Infosys founders bet big on start-ups

S D Shibulal, former chief executive and managing director of Infosys, has joined the ranks of the company's other founders in nurturing start-ups.

He will follow N S Raghavan, N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan with plans to support entrepreneurship in India. 

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Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy had launched Catamaran Ventures, a $130-million venture capital and private equity fund, in 2010. 

Shibulal intends to set up an incubator for innovative ideas of young entrepreneurs, though he has no immediate plans for a venture capital fund. 

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He will fund the innovations in his own capacity. The incubator would be on the lines of the Start-up Village in Kochi and the project is likely to be based in Kerala or Bangalore.

The Village is a technology incubator funded by the public and private sectors. Kris Gopalakrishnan is its chief mentor. 

"Though he has such plans, nothing is concrete yet," said a spokesperson from Shibulal's family office.

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Innovations Investment Management, Shibulal's family office, has floated Tamara Real Estate Holdings & Development, which runs a hotel in Coorg. 

The company will open a hotel in Trivandrum and a resort in Kodaikanal soon. Tamara owns land parcels in Bangalore, Kochi, Guruvayur and Madurai.

"The last couple of years have a seen good number of industry leaders, particularly from information technology, coming to shape future entrepreneurs. Initiatives taken by these leaders have not only strengthened the ecosystem but have also led to an increase in the number of scalable and investible enterprises," said Padmaja Ruparel, president of the Indian Angel Network.

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Infosys co-founders have a history of promoting entrepreneurship. 

Raghavan manages Nadathur Holdings and Investments, which invests in technology companies.

Besides, he has set up an entrepreneurship development cell at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

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Nilekani is working on plans to promote social entrepreneurship through the use of technology.

"These people are highly credible, and with their experience in technology and entrepreneurship, they can help a lot of start-ups," said Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies Product Council.