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Having invested in couple of Ahmedabad-based start-ups such as Grid Ants at IIT Gandhinagar and Gaatha at NID, Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist Asha Jadeja of Ahmedabad origin is bullish about investing in start-ups in Gujarat and other parts of the country. The investor has recently set aside a fund of around $ 8 million specifically for India, of which she has already invested around $100,000.
"There are lot of start-ups emerging out of Gujarat and India. Moreover, in that, the ones based on technology are promising. I believe technology can be a powerful force in social impact. I intend to invest in some of these promising start-ups," said Jadeja.
The $ 8 million fund will be spaced across a period of six years and will focus on investing in emerging business ideas in India, especially in Gujarat.
Apart from Grid Ants and Gaatha, Jadeja has also invested in a Chennai-based start-up. Moreover, Jadeja is also bullish about potential start-ups emerging from the recently held Maker Fest in Ahmedabad that looks to invite ideas for innovation and inventions. The Maker Fest was held in partnership with National Institute of Design (NID).
Jadeja, who has been part of Google as a venture capitalist, also introduced the search engine giant's open source operating system Glassware to programmers as part of an app development competition and hackathon.
Inspired by California's wildly popular Maker Faire, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Asha Jadeja, in partnership with National Institute of Design, brings India a prestigious technology and design event, in partnership with the Maker Fest - a non-commercial event, free and open to the public.
"I expect these competitions to give a running start to Indian entrepreneurs as they launch apps on Glassware before Google's Glass is available to the public. This way, we intend to put India on the global tech innovation map," Jadeja added.
Talking about increasing her investment in the already invested start-ups, Jadeja said, "If the opportunities are right, we will not hesitate to invest in our investee firms in Gujarat and other parts of India."
Meanwhile, the venture capitalist has also donated a $140,000 Fablab - digital fabrication 3D tool developing equpiment - from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to the maker community in Ahmedabad.
The Fablab is a set of digital fabrication equipment and software to help makers transform their imagination into products. To be housed at the CEPT University in Ahmedabad, the Fablab will be open to the public at select hours every day.
