Former Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala turns investor, joins Dallas Venture

The firm said it plans to focus on early-stage and growth-stage companies dealing with areas such as cloud infra, AI, machine learning and mobile

Abidali Neemuchwala, who quit as the chief executive officer and managing director of IT services firm Wipro early this year, has joined US-based Dallas Venture Partners (DVP) as a venture partner. DVP also launched its operations in India. The firm said it plans to focus on early-stage and growth-stage companies dealing with areas such as cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, machine learning and mobile.

As a venture partner, the firm said that Neemuchwala would be bringing deep technology expertise and invaluable experience of building businesses. It said his understanding of the Indian market will be an asset for both DVP as well as the startups backed by the firm.

“I'm very happy to be part of DVP, which is focused on Dallas, Texas, which is my adopted home, and India, which is my motherland. And it gives me an opportunity to contribute back to both these places in an area of my expertise, which is 'technology' and help create many more unicorns,” said Neemuchwala. “We always asked when India will have the next Google. We now have about 20- 30 unicorns coming out of India already. India is going to become a very thriving hub for innovation and technology. All of this has been possible, not only because of the entrepreneurial spirit of Indians but also because of the supportive government policies.”

Neemuchwala said the time is right for Indian start-ups to be known as the global powerhouse in the area of business-to-business software-as-a-service. He said DVP would be adding value to the companies which have already crossed $1 million revenue and are ready to reach $10 million in revenues. “I along with my team can help them. This team has huge operating experience. We can handhold entrepreneurs, to be able to devise and refine product roadmap and take them to the next level of growth,” said Neemuchwala.

Dayakar Puskoor, a serial entrepreneur with a track record of successful investments will serve as the managing director of DVP. The firm plans to make investments in the range of $2 million to $10 million both in early-stage and growth-stage companies.

“Abid (Neemuchwala) has been a statesman of the IT services industry and a thought leader advising global CXO’s on digital transformation,” said Puskoor. “His rich experience in business and technology, and extensive network, will benefit the startup ecosystem worldwide.”

The pre-existing version of DVP was a venture capital platform that successfully invested in twenty-one startups with multiple successful exits and with a combined portfolio enterprise value of more than $1 billion. The firm will provide extensive support to its portfolio companies through co-investments from Silicon Valley investors, participation in incubator and accelerator programmes.

According to a report, more than 55,000 startups were launched in India in the last five and a half years. Out of these, over 3,200 startups raised $63 billion in funding. The digital boom and technology disruption, especially in the current times, has led to an increased interest of investors, particularly in the tech-domain.

With its entry in India, DVP said it will tap the opportunities that the burgeoning tech ecosystem is offering to overseas investors. The fund aims to bring Silicon valley spirit from Dallas to India. DVP envisions to help Indian startups grow globally making around $300-500 million investment in the country and create about $7-10 billion enterprise value within 10 years.