'Date With Chinese Investors:' China Shows Interest in Indian Startups

The speed-networking event "Date with Chinese Investors" designed for Indian start-up companies and Chinese investors was organized in Bengaluru, India by Onionfans, a Singapore-based tech media and investment company along with Mobile10X and was initiated by the Internet and Mobile Association of India. Fifteen Chinese investors met and listened to pitches of 150 early-stage startups in the mobile and internet space from Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. On the last day of the event Chinese investors shortlisted 10 Indian startups, in which they would invest $5 million dollars.

This was the first Chinese investor networking event of its kind, according to Satyendra Verma, Chief Operating Officer of Mobile10X. In the future, similar events with foreign investors might be scheduled. "We have planned to invest $5 million in each of the Indian projects," he added.

"The event was aimed to show the landscape of Chinese and Indian venture and investment, and to facilitate the innovation and communication between the two countries," an official statement said.

Hutu, CEO Onionfans said: "We have chosen Bengaluru over other cities to start because of the great infrastructure and tremendous support given by state government. Many among the investors are on their first visit to India and are thrilled to see the potential among Indian startups. Over the course of the next few months we intend to come back and explore more opportunities and avenues if the output from this is positive."

Bengaluru is known as the "Silicon Valley of India" or "IT capital of India" because of its role as the nation's leading IT exporter.

Investment interest from China began about two years ago, with the entry of big players like Alibaba, Baidu, Cheetah Mobile and Apus Group. Now interest appears to be exploding, with many more players looking at a wider range of Indian tech startups.