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Vab Goel, general partner at Silicon Valley firm Norwest Venture Partners, is spearheading the firm's investing efforts in India. Despite the hype, only a couple of Silicon Valley venture firms are investing in early-stage companies in India.
SiliconBeat: Is India on fire, or what?
Vab: You can't pick up a magazine where India isn't talked about. It's happening faster than we thought. There's a lot more talk about companies getting formed. The valuations are pretty high...
SiliconBeat: You guys at Norwest have been snooping around India and looking for investments there for the past 18 months. How come you haven't opened your own office yet?
Vab: There are pros and cons to opening up an office quickly. If you, as a whole partnership, aren't committed, and don't have experience working in India, you're going to frustrate the partner you've hired to work alone there.
SiliconBeat: You've invested in 18 companies that have R&D centers in India, and made only two direct investments, Persistent Systems, and Yatra. Are you going to pick up the pace?
Vab: We're giving things a lot of thought. We want keep our bar high. You know, the smart entrepreneurs know what to look for in a venture capitalist. They want help building their network, and advice to hire and set strategy. It's not just money. As a firm, you need to have a strong ecosystem, and Norwest has been building that network. Every month, at least one of our partners is in India. The next step is to have people have based in India. The goal is to have someone there there by this year.
SiliconBeat: So just how are valuations?
Vab: Early stage companies are getting valuations at levels comparable to China. You have to be careful. If you look at true early stage companies, there aren't that many investment opportunities yet. The few that are there, are going to get big prices.
As for later stage companies, the valuations are probably higher in China than in India China has taken multiple companies public on the Nasdaq; that has investors paying more.