Tencent, Chinese conglomerate known for its We Chat messaging platform is now eyeing the booming early stage startup landscape in India. The company is looking to invest $ 5 million to $ 15 million in startups such as ShareChat and Kissht.
Post its foray into the Indian ecosystem in 2015, Tencent has majorly invested hefty sums in late-stage startups only. Its early bets include Practo, Hike, Flipkart, and Ola. “Tencent could invest between $5 Mn and $15 Mn across segments including, gaming, content, social media and consumer lending,” one of the people cited above said on condition of anonymity,” said sources close to the development.
In the year 2017, out of the 70 disclosed investments of Tencent, about 36% were directed toward early stage investments, 23% was targeted towards late stage investments while the remaining 3% was targeted towards seed funding. Tencent’s new focus on relatively young venture firms marks a diversification of the company’s funding strategies.
The reports also suggest that Tencent might make its early stage startups bet in India in association with Naspers. Most recently, Naspers has announced it will use the $ 10 billion it raked in as part of its Tencent share sale, through which there will have a major focus on the Indian market.
As Bob Van Dijk, Chief Executive of Naspers, indicated in an earlier interaction with ET, “We (Naspers and Tencent) have done several co-investments — MakeMyTrip and OLX India, where they are a minority investor. They also now co-invest with us in Flipkart… Both Tencent and Naspers are huge believers of the Indian market, and we have the intention to do a lot more together going forward.”
According to further industry reports, Tencent is likely to invest anywhere between $ 5 million to 15 million across fields like gaming, content, social media and consumer lending. Tencent, its Chinese rival Alibaba Group, and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp have become increasingly aggressive in India the past 12 months, picking up stakes in some of the country’s most richly valued companies and driving up valuations to stratospheric levels in the process.