Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, will soon establish an Indian arm to invest in the growing start-up ecosystem in the country.
The venture arm of the global technology and engineering solutions major will primarily make investments in companies that have participated in the accelerator programme run by Bosch India.
In 2016, the company had introduced the programme for start-ups called DNA — discover, nurture and align.
The 18-week programme comprises a development, mentoring and piloting platform for start-ups.
“The Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH is almost ready to start India operations,” said Manohar Esarapu, Head Bosch India, Corporate venture programme DNA. “The fund is expected to formally start operations within one and half years. In India RBVC would primarily fund companies which are part of our accelerator programme.”
Aerospace, mobility
The fund is likely to invest in companies which work in the areas like aerospace, mobility, social impact, healthcare and agriculture among others. The fund has offices in Isreal, the U.S. and in Germany.
At present RBVC invests in seed, early-, and late-stage Venture Capital rounds and participates in the follow-on investments in privately held companies. The investment of the company depends on the stage of the company and the initial amount of investment ranges from below €500,000 for seed funding to more than €5 million for an early- to late-stage funding round.
According to Bosch India two companies which were part of the Bosch accelerator programme already had discussions with RBVC to raise funds.
Earlier, Bosch India said that 13 technology start-ups have graduated from its first accelerator programme.
Bosch also said that the company has selected four start-ups from the accelerator programme with which it will collaborate and take the solutions to the market.
