Startups backed by Qualcomm Ventures include agri-tech startup Ninjacart, healthcare service provider Portea Medical and YourStory, a content platform.
The investment arm of U.S.-based chipmaker Qualcomm Inc., Qualcomm Ventures, is apparently seeking investment opportunities in Indian startups from the financial services, mobility-tech, healthcare and other sectors. Senior executives of the company suggested that it would back the startups through its recently established artificial intelligence fund.
Records confirm that in November, Qualcomm Ventures had announced that it has set up a $100 million AI fund for supporting startups working on the AI technology. The company has been involved in talks with startup founders from various sectors after that.
Global head and senior VP of Qualcomm Ventures, Quinn Li said that the firm has been investing in India for the last 10 years. Though earlier it was mostly focused on other ecosystems, the company has expanded into IoT and is quite bullish on the AI space in India, he commented. Li reportedly oversees a venture portfolio worth $1 billion, comprising over 150 companies across seven regions.
Li added that the firm has met with numerous companies in the AI space from the financial services, healthcare and surveillance industries. He believes there are vast opportunities for investments both in India and across the globe.
According to reports, the startups which have been backed by Qualcomm Ventures include agri-tech startup Ninjacart, healthcare service provider Portea Medical and YourStory, a content platform. The firm has not disclosed the names of the startups it is in discussions with for investments from the AI Fund.
Reports further mention that the fund has already made its first investment, by backing the recognition startup AnyVision, which supposedly specializes in object and human recognition technology. The firm is looking for companies that are utilizing both AI on cloud and edge. For the initiated, edge computing involves processing and analyzing data at the edge or end-devices, close to the source of the data for minimizing the data transmitted to the central hub.
