Bertelsmann India Investments Plans Investments Exceeding $500 Million The company plans to invest as part of its boost program to increase revenues and profits
By Teena Jose
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Bertelsmann is systematically implementing its group-wide Boost 25 strategy. Under the program, the Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) fund will make new and follow-on investments totaling $500 million. The fund will keep an eye on disruptive technologies like Web3 and Deeptech, and plans to open more offices in India and the region.
"BII will benefit from Bertelsmann's boost program, which is being carried out based on our high investment capacity. It will help Bertelsmann continue to increase its growth momentum significantly. As part of our global venture capital activities, BII will play an important role in this in the years ahead. The Indian economy is seeing very strong growth right now, from which the venture capital industry in particular is benefiting as well," said Carsten Coesfeld, CEO, BII.
BII has invested in more than 17 companies, some already valued as Unicorns. Current investments include Eruditus, Licious, Shiprocket, Pepperfry, AgroStar among others. In what has been a decade of dynamic developments, BII has to date invested a total of about $285 million in startups. In 2022 and 2023, BII plans to focus on investments in the health-tech, future of work, fintech, agritech, and other sectors, claimed by the company in a statement.
"Our BII team has done an incredibly good job since its inception. Our current portfolio in India looks excellent, as evidenced by dynamic operational developments, very good valuations and well-known co-investors in our investments. On the back of VC market potential in India, we now enable BII team to expand their investment scope both in terms of sectors and volume," said Shobhna Mohn, CSO, Bertelsmann Investments.
Founded in 2012, Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) is a sector agnostic venture capital fund that has proven to be a strong pillar for mentoring growth stage companies into unicorns. BII focuses on early growth stage investments, Series A to D, in tech driven startups. It is known for investments in disruptive sectors such as healthtech, fintech, agritech, enterprise tech and others.
