China's ICBC sets up $200m India venture fund

ICBC’s India branch, founded in Mumbai in 2011, will manage the fund, ICBC India CEO Zheng Bin said at the second Startup India Investment Seminar in Beijing. The vehicle is intended to deepen ICBC’s involvement in India and follows another fund set up earlier this year by the bank to invest in exchange-traded funds based on the Indian market.

Along with ICBC’s fund announcement, the seminar also hosted a forum for Indian entrepreneurs representing 20 start-ups to pitch to more than 350 Chinese VC funds and angel investors. Out of the participating start-ups, eight received commitments totaling $30 million.

Chinese investors are playing a growing role in India’s technology sector, with firms such as Shunwei Capital – co-founded by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun – and Ganesh Ventures joined by strategic investors including Tencent and Alibaba Group. Fosun International has also entered the market, forming a strategic partnership with domestic VC firm Iron Pillar Capital Management. These investors are seen as having introduced a new dynamic to India’s tech sector through strategic alignments and filling local gaps in Series A and B funding.

India’s government has put significant effort into mobilizing private capital from both domestic and international investors to support the country’s entrepreneurial sector, which it sees as one of the key drivers of economic growth. Measures to accelerate the ecosystem’s development include financial commitments to local venture funds, regulatory reforms to improve business conditions for alternative investment funds – a category that includes most VC and PE funds – and removing restraints on foreign investment in certain sectors.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• South Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• China
• India
• ICBC