Image credit: The Indian Express
Google has started exploratory talks with startups and venture capital investors in India, which could lead to Google’s fist acquisition of an Indian company, according to three people directly aware of the matter. The world’s largest internet company is looking to invest or acquire companies in India that caters to whom it refers to as the next billion internet users, reports say.
Google recently hired Seema Rao, who was vice-president at investment bank Avendus Capital, to lead corporate development and strategic investments, in India and Southeast Asia. Google’s focus on tapping the next billion internet users, typically in India’s small cities and towns, could see it making strategic investments or acquiring technology- enabled firms in the financial services, healthcare, education or mobile utilities sectors, says the reports.
Google is training it investment focus on startups that can help it expand among low-bandwidth internet users, similar to what microblogging platform Twitter tried to do with its acquisition of missed call marketing platform ZipDal in 2015.