Indian startups continue to romance Chinese investors; Infosys heads to Arizona for tech hub

The highlight this week was the continued interest of Chinese investors in Indian startups. What began as carefully evaluated investments a couple of years back, mostly in the later stages, has now evolved to interest across the board. The five Chinese investors active this week were Shunwei Capital (ShareChat), Morningside Ventures (ShareChat), Sailing Capital (Ola), China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (Ola) and Xiaomi (ShareChat) in deals totalling $124 million.

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Infosys announced it will open its next technology and innovation hub in the State of Arizona, US, and hire 1,000 American workers by 2023. The announcement reinforces Infosys’ May 2017 commitment to open technology and innovation hubs in the US and hire 10,000 American workers. To date, Infosys has hired 5,874 American workers against this commitment. The Arizona Technology and Innovation Hub will focus on autonomous technologies, Internet-of-Things (IoT), full-stack engineering, data science and cybersecurity.

Nitin Vishwas chanced upon mead, said to be the “drink of the gods”, in an inflight magazine. The article ignited the interest of this hobbyist brewer; soon after he landed, he excitedly shared the information with friend Rohan Rehani. Today, his company, Pune-based Moonshine Meadery, has brought the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage to India, with its beverages now sold in 225 stores and restaurants across Mumbai and Pune.

In a country where investments have been synonymous with gold and realty, the wealth management ecosystem is slowly evolving, and startups are trying to take a bite of the equity market pie with mutual fund investments as they help Indians grow their wealth. Bigger players in the startup ecosystem have forayed into the space. Zerodha launched its direct mutual fund platform, Coin, last year, and Paytm Money launched a dedicated mutual fund investments app, partnering with close to 25 Asset Management Companies.

Many startups are working to raise awareness about investment in equity markets through mutual funds to help savers grow their money

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