At Murdok, we write about Google acquiring other companies on what seems like a daily basis. We may soon get to write about Google funding them, as well – the search engine giant has joined the Band of Angels, and will invest in young Indian companies.
Going into this article, I knew that “Band of Angels” is the name of an old movie starring Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, and Sidney Poitier. In my “research phase,” I discovered that it’s also the name of group urging people to “celebrate life with Down syndrome.” But what’s most relevant here is the Band of Angels that acts as “Silicon Valley’s oldest organization still dedicated exclusively to funding and advising seed stage startups.”
This Band does not operate exclusively in Silicon Valley, however, which is key to Google’s involvement.
“Google, by joining BoA is making a statement which cannot be ignored,” according to an unnamed industry analyst who spoke with the Business Standard. “It is high time VC funds seriously start investing in seed-stage companies in India, which is the actual reason why Silicon Valley is what it is today,” he (or she) told Raghuvir Badrinath.
Individuals may agree or disagree with that comment, but either way, Google could indeed set off a sort of rush into India – Badrinath reports that the Mountain View-based company is already investing in three separate funds.
