India’s technology start-up ecosystem has received a much-needed morale booster in the last three months with internationally renowned technology visionaries and other high-profile figures putting money into several small companies.
Steve Wozniak
Bangalore-based Gecko, a start-up that makes low-powered Bluetooth devices, received a surprising financial backer on Thursday. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who started the maker of iPhones and iPods along with Steve Jobs, contributed to Gecko’s online fund-raising campaign.
“I contributed to this [Gecko]… useful as well as prankful,” Mr. Wozniak said.
Jerry Yang
Last month, Bangalore-based Pankaj Risbood, who started a smartphone sensor start-up along with Jonathan Matus, received its first round of funding from a group of investors that included Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang.
“We’ve been working on Zendrive for several months, and are excited to announce a $1.5 million seed round of funding with backers, including Jerry Yang,” the company, which is based in the U.S. and focussed on making driving easier, had said.
Larry Summers
Two months ago, Bangalore-based ZoomCar India Pvt. Ltd. sent waves throughout the start-up scene after picking up a cool $30,000 investment from U.S economist Larry Summers.
India is widely being perceived as the next start-up battleground, especially with regard to mobile-focussed companies, with several Silicon Valley investors and start-up funds evincing interest in recent times. For instance, Silicon Valley-based start-up accelerator Tandem Capital recently set up an India-based fund backed by former Infosys director Mohandas Pai.
