Norwest Ventures launches USD 650 mn fund

Mumbai, Apr 19 (UNI) Global venture capital major Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) has launched a new USD 650 million fund christened Norwest Venture Partners X targetted at early, mid and late-stage investments with a focus on emerging growth opportunities in the IT sector.

A release here today said, the new fund is its largest and brings its total capital and commitments to more than USD 2.5 billion. NVP X follows the USD 400 million NVP IX Fund, which closed in late-2001.

''This latest fund will enable NVP to enter a new phase of growth and the size of NVP X is a testament to our belief in the potential of emerging markets in the US and India,'' said, NVP managing partner Promod Haque, adding, ''NVP is excited to fuel the growth of several next-generation technology companies in the years ahead, and we will continue to partner with leading entrepreneurs to build great businesses.'' NVP X will focus on investments in the US, India and Isreal and will continue to concentrate on the broad investment opportunities in the consumer, mobile and media sectors in India, informed the release.

NVP has been active in India as well and has invested in more than 20 hybrid or cross-border companies. These companies are ones which are headquartered in the US but have a significant presence in India.

Pointing out that the firm has also made two direct investments in India during the last five months, the release informed that the company ''will be announcing additional investments in the first half of 2006.'' Recently, NVP invested in Yatra Online and Persistent Systems, a leading provider of outsourced software product development, stated the release.

''While broadband and wireless penetration has greatly increased in India in the past few years, the rate of adoption will still continue to rise significantly. The opportunity for additional penetration combined with a sizeable middle-class that has tremendous spending power makes today's investment landscape in India extremely promising,'' said Mr. Haque.

UNI JJ PP SKB2008