HAX, the world’s largest hardware start-up accelerator, is scouting for investments in young firms in India, which have developed working prototypes in areas such as healthcare, consumer electronics, robotics and bionics.
Benjamin Joffe, general partner at the Shenzhen-based HAX said that he has met founders of at least 10 Indian hardware start-ups to explore investment opportunities. These firms have developed various hardware products such as roti machine, car head-up display, baby monitoring system and robotic cocktail machine.
“There is a lot of talent in India, but it is very difficult, expensive and slow to go beyond the first (hardware) prototype,” said Mr. Joffe in an interview.
“I think connecting Indian creation, engineering and science with Shenzhen and the Silicon Valley is the way to go,” he added.
The Chinese accelerator would invest seed capital of $100,000 in each firm in return for 9 per cent stake and also invest in follow-on rounds.
He said selected teams would go through a four-month programme at its offices in Shenzhen and the Silicon Valley.
They would get access to mentorship, a shared office and lab space and a specialised staff to help with design and sourcing.
The accelerator is backed by US-based venture firm SOSV which has a corpus of $250 million.
“The challenge is to find start-ups that not only have good technology that is hard to copy, but are also targeting large market and are different from what already exists,” said Mr. Joffe.
Founded in 2011 by Cyril Ebersweiler and Sean O'Sullivan--best known for co-founding MapInfo Corporation and for coining the term ‘cloud computing’, HAX has invested in over 150 start-ups.
Bollywood dance
When Mr. Joffe came to know that Bengaluru has the biggest community for Internet of Things (IoT) — a technology where devices communicate with each other intelligently, it caught his attention. “My image about India was Yoga, Bollywood, poverty and SlideShare.
“I learnt Yoga, went to watch Salman Khan movie with my friend and learnt Bollywood dance,” said Mr. Joffe who later discovered Internet of Things Bangalore (IoTBLR), which has now become the largest IoT-focused meet-up group in the world, followed by similar communities in London, San Francisco, Paris and New York.
