The Venture Intelligence Blog

Businessworld has an article on the challenges facing hydelpower projects in India. While India is reeling under a huge power shortage, hydro accounts for just a fourth of the total installed capacity of around 100,000 mega watts (MW). India’s progress on the hydro front has, after the initial spurt, been tepid. Till now, only 21 per cent of the potential hydro capacity is developed. ...three-fourths of the projects still remain in the public sector, with central PSUs such as National Hydroelectricity Power Corporation (NHPC) and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation accounting for the bulk. Only 4 per cent of the installed hydropower capacity has been commissioned by the private sector till September, according to the CEA. ...Manoj Gaur, chairman of Delhi-based infrastructure group Jaiprakash Industries, says that land acquisition and government clearances pose the biggest hurdles. Jaiprakash has the largest share (58 per cent) in private hydropower in India. Uncertainty in the ti...

From the press release: IDG Ventures India, a $150 Million early-stage technology venture capital fund has announced an investment of $3 million in Perfint , a healthcare devices start-up. Perfint is headquartered in Chennai with its product development labs in Mysore. It has been co-founded by Mr. S Nandakumar, Mr. B D Vijaya and a team of healthcare device professionals that were closely associated with building GE Healthcare's Design, Manufacturing and Sourcing hub in India. Perfint will focus on developing Niche Healthcare Products and Solutions, that address Clinical Productivity needs globally with a special focus on Emerging Markets like India, China , amongst others and subsequently developed markets like USA, Europe etc. Their first product called PIGA, is a Tool Positioner for Image Guided Minimally Invasive (IG-MI) procedures. Some of the clinical applications that PIGA supports would be, Fine needle aspiration (FN A), Biopsy and RF Ablation (RFA) of small tumors in the...

Kamla Bhatt has a two part audio interview with Quentin Staes-Polet, the Belgian CEO of Kreeda Games, the Bombay-based online multiplayer gaming start-up funded by IDG Ventures India and SoftBank. Quentin has some interesting points on why the firm chose not to disclose the amount of funding it raised, interplay between social networking and gaming, experience of an "foreigner" starting a business in India, etc. Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the Private Equity and Venture Capital ecosystem in India. View sample issues of Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.

Businessworld has a profile of a Delhi-based company that makes Lassi making machines. ...an enterprising young man called Sultan did the next best thing. He perfected a lassi-churning device. He sold his first machines to the numerous lassi shops and restaurants in the crowded lanes around Delhi’s Jama Masjid area. The devices ran on electricity, worked for hours on end, needed little maintenance and almost never broke down. That was the 1950s. Fifteen years after starting out, Sultan passed away. His son Mohammed Usman, barely 20 then, took over. Usman decided to name the devices ‘Sultan’ in memory of his father. He moved the workshop to Daryaganj in 1992 and also set up a factory in Wazirabad, which employs 25 workers and engineers, to meet the growing demand for his father’s machines. He called the business Raja & Co. — a nickname given to him by friends and loyal customers. Usman’s sons have helped add a modern touch to the 50-year-old family business. Orders from outside D...

Edited extracts from the press release: IDFC Private Equity (IDFC PE) has invested Rs.260 crores in Goodearth Maritime Limited (GML), a leading Chennai-based dry bulk shipping company. o3 Capital was the sole advisor to GML for this transaction. The company intends to use these funds to fund its growth plans for the green-field ship building yard in Tamil Nadu, as well as for its foray into the on-shore and off-shore oil drilling sector. The shipyard is expected to require a total investment of around $500 million in the first phase, with a capacity to build about 25 to 30 ships a year, including VLCCs. Mr. P.B. Anandam, Chairman, GML, speaking on the occasion, said “We are in the process of making Goodearth Maritime a global shipping company, with a strong shipbuilding base in India. The potential of Indian shipbuilding economics will fully unfold in our yard near Cuddalore with third generation international standards of ship construction. It would give our ship owning a competitive...

Extracts from IDG Ventures' press release: IDG Ventures India , a $150 Million early-stage technology venture capital fund, has announced its investment in 3D Solid Compression (3DSoC), a startup incubated by Stanford University and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). 3D Solid compression has been co-founded by Prof. Fritz Prinz (Stanford) Prof. B. Gurumoorthy (IISC), Dr. Krishnan Ramaswami and Mr. K K Venkatraman around the vision of ‘3D for All’. 3DSoC is positioned to be a key player in the 3D content creation and visualization space with VIS (Virtual Interactive Solid), its novel 3D representation format. The ability to interact with the concise representation enables 3DSoC to straddle markets as diverse as 3D Publishing and Visualization and Rich Internet Applications. Today, 3DSoC’s customers in India include major players in the Automotive and Engineering verticals who see significant benefits in leveraging 3D product data in both marketing and the MRO side of the business...

The following companies are seeking capital for starting-up / expanding their operations: 07-11-28-2: Yanam, AP based developer seeks around $5 M for acquiring land for the development of Industrial Estates, SEZs and tourism-related projects. 07-11-28-3: Hyderabad based ERP focused IT Services firm seeks above $5 M – ideally from an investor with strong network in Europe - for funding acquisitions. 07-11-28-4: Bangalore based group seeks 07-11-28-5: Nagpur based Project Engineering company engaged in HVAC Projects, Marine AC & R Projects, Industrial Chilling Systems etc. seeks 07-12-12-1: Delhi based woman entrepreneur seeks $1-5 M for launching day care services for working women 07-12-12-2: Ranchi based award-winning anti-hacking services organization seeks For more information about any of these companies, investors - who are subscribers to the Venture Intelligence service - can email the company code to vcmarket@ventureintelligence.in . To learn about our subscription servic...