Robert Bosch Venture Capital Fund Eyes Indian Startups

Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group that invests in startups across Europe, U.S., Israel, and China, is now eyeing India.

The group's investment arm is looking to enter India in the coming 1-2 years, Manohar Esarapu, Bosch India head of corporate venture programme D.N.A, told BloombergQuint in an interview. “Bosch's accelerator programme will act as an investment infusion arm” and will help discover startups, he said.

Bosch, which last year set up its third fund of 150 million euros (or $170 million), usually invests in areas like artificial intelligence/deep learning, mobility solutions, internet of things, virtual reality and analytics.

Esarapu said the venture capital fund is already in talks with two startups in mobility services and 3D simulation software. The startups were part of the 450 applications that the firm had received last year for its accelerator programme.

“Indian startups ecosystem has to move into deep tech innovation and it could only happen when real experts work with the startups. And Robert Bosch Venture Capital is very keen to tap into what we are doing and we have regular conversion with them. We will actually act like a pitching engine for the startups,” he said.

It invests in seed, early and late-stage venture capital rounds and participates in the follow-on investments in privately held companies. The venture capital arm typically invests between 6 and 15 million euros (or $6.7-16.9 million) for usually 10 to 25 percent equity in each company.

Also Read: Deal Street: Indian Startups Raised Nearly $100 Million Last Week

Accelerator Programme

Thirteen startups in the areas of aerospace, mobility, social impact, healthcare and agriculture graduated on Tuesday from D.N.A., Bosch's first ever accelerator programme. The startups were shortlisted out of 450 applications and were judged on business model, solution and understanding of the market, Esarapu said.

Of the 13 startups, four are part of the go-to-market strategy where they will either provide services to Bosch or will jointly bid for the projects with Bosch, while the three others are at the validation stage, he said.

“The chosen startups are in the areas that could add value to our existing business, as much as we can add to theirs,” he said, adding that Bosch doesn't take equity in the graduated startups and works on a partnership model.

From mentoring to assisting startups through relevant technologies, the five-month programme provides an all-round support. Bosch said it has invested around $1 million in the accelerator programme.

The next cohort of startups starts in September this year. Esarapu said the firm is looking for venture in energy, sustainable, healthcare, smart manufacturing and agriculture domains.