Aside from the U.S., I’d say that India is probably Google’s favorite country. Now Google’s showing it an extra bit of love by investing in two venture capital funds.
To show a fragmented and partial timeline, this comes after the announcement that an Indian version of YouTube would launch, the designation of Orkut as an Indian “youth icon,” and a companywide celebration of India’s 60th year of independence. The most relevant story occurred in July, though, when Google joined the Band of Angels.
That organization helped bring Google closer to startups in India. The Indian Angel Network and Ventureast TeNet Fund II, with which the search giant is now becoming involved, should do something similar. And this seems like a very good idea.
Brian White writes, “[J]ust like innovation hotbed Israel, India is set to churn out just as many world-changing innovations as any other country in existence if the support tools and monetary infrastructure are in place to foster that type of environment. Google’s ability to seek out funding opportunities for unique creations is unique in and of itself. It will probably want to buy those creations once a workable business product or service is available.”
Given Google’s relationship with India, that’s not likely to be a problem.
