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With large information technology (IT) companies increasingly looking at partnering with innovative software product start-ups, industry body Nasscom plans to launch a Nasscom Industry Partner Programme, to enable this.
While mergers and acquisitions is one area where NIPP will play a role, it will also enable joint product developments and go-to-market activities. And, facilitate strategic investments into start-ups by larger companies.
“NIPP is going to have a combination of several different types of companies and will not be limited to IT services companies. We now have several large companies coming to our office and asking for assistance in engaging with start-ups and we are doing it on an ad hoc basis every now and then,” said Ravi Gururaj, chairman of Nasscom’s product council. “Now, we are looking at it in a different way and devising a systematic way of helping them engage.”
In the first phase of NIPP, there would be 20 large players that will be chosen to participate by Nasscom, he said, of which around 12 have been finalised. These include multinational companies and large Indian IT services entities, he added, without sharing any names.
The programme would begin by December, after Nasscom assigns a dedicated team to work on it.
Despite intentions to partner with software product start-ups, several large Indian IT services companies have failed to do so because of the differences in the structure and way of working of a services and product company. Many IT entities are now looking to act as venture capitalists for start-ups, where take a minority stake and allow the start-up to work at arms' length, to avoid any overlap of business.
