Lately, there is a bit of China in some of the top Indian startups, from e-commerce platform Snapdeal and mobile wallet giant Paytm to ride sharing company Ola and travel portal MakeMyTrip.
In the last year or so, India’s startups have seen an influx of investments from China’s top technology firms Alibaba and Tencent.
The biggest highlight was Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding and its finance arm Ant Financial. Aiming to gain a stronger foothold in the country’s surging internet retail space, they invested a combined $680 million in mobile wallet Paytm. Alibaba’s investment is bearing fruit now, as Paytm, riding the demonetisation wave and ongoing cashless economy drive in India, has been witnessing over a million transaction per week since last November.
Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings led a $175 million funding in WhatsApp’s India rival Hike, and prior to that, it led a $90 million round in healthcare startup Practo. Tencent, through its joint venture with South Africa’s Naspers, also invested in Indian online travel firm Ibibo Group. Similarly, Ctrip, one of China’s largest online travel companies, also invested $180 million in travel portal MakeMyTrip.
And Apple-backed car-hailing app Didi Chuxing, which acquired Uber’s China business, had invested $500 million in Ola, the only major competitor for Uber in India.
While India startups are struggling to find funds, experts say Chinese investors are making strategic investments into Indian companies, even buying out a few, by using their surpluses to expand into what is potentially the world’s third largest digital market.
Between 2000 and March 2016 investment from China in Indian startups added up to just over $1.35 billion, accounting for about 0.5% of the total foreign direct investment inflow into India. The amount is now increased to $2.3 billion.
Source: Forbes
