Indian Startups to get an investment of $150 million from Qualcomm

It looks like its raining money for India. After Facebook’s announcement of investing a ton of money in the country in startups, US-based chip maker Qualcomm said that it would invest up to $150 million (Rs 9.8 billion) in Indian startups via a venture fund after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top tech honchos in the Silicon Valley during his US visit.

The chip-maker based in San Diego made the announcement after its executive chairman Paul Jacobs met the Indian prime minister at the Digital Economy event in San Jose. He said that the venture fund was in support of the government’s Digital India and Make-in-India initiatives.

“We share Modi’s vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. India is at the cusp of a technology revolution and mobile technologies will lay the foundation for Digital India,” said Paul Jacobs.

“We are committed to providing local innovative start-ups with the support needed to help India’s IOE ecosystem grow, increasing consumer choice and availability,” he added.

Qualcomm, the name that is synonymous with processors of Smartphones will setup a new venture fund, which will be advised by Qualcomm Ventures — an investment arm of the group.  It is expected to fuel innovation and foster promising Indian startups which are contributing to the Mobile and Internet of Everything ecosystem. It will also aim to provide startups with financial, marketing, technology and business support to help propel them forward in the competitive Indian market.

“Since Qualcomm’s first India investment in 2007 and with full-fledged presence starting in early 2008, we continue to invest broadly to strengthen India’s overall economy,” said Nagraj Kashyap, senior vice president of Qualcomm.

“We are committed to providing these companies with the support needed to help propel them forward in the competitive Indian region. We’re excited about the new prospects in India and look forward to growing our portfolio,” he added.

The company claims to havea portfolio of 20 Indian companies. It has directly invested in companies like YourStory, a media tech platform for entrepreneurs, Portea Medical, an in-home healthcare provider, and MapMyIndia, a provider of digital map, navigation, and tracking products and services. It has also been heavily investing in making wireless and mobile communication cheaper in India by working with Smartphone vendors.

With the whole world’s attention focused on the Indian market, economic development should hopefully skyrocket in the coming years.