Updated: September 15, 2020 4:41:45 am
Targets include venture capitalists, angel investors, founders and CTOs of the country’s promising new e-commerce platforms, and India-based foreign investors.
From an engineering student interning at the Indian Railways to the Chief Investment Officer at Azim Premji’s venture capital company, the Overseas Key Individual DataBase (OKIDB), built by Chinese firm Zhenhua Data, has at least 1,400 entries covering the entire spectrum. of India’s new economy, an investigation by The Indian Express revealed.
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Targets include venture capitalists, angel investors, founders and CTOs of the country’s promising startups and e-commerce platforms, and India-based foreign investors.
They are part of the 10,000 Indian individuals and entities listed in the database and it comes as Chinese investment in Indian startups increased more than 10 times, from $ 381 million in 2016 to $ 4.6 billion in 2019. However, the ongoing border confrontation has caused uncertainties about the future of this investment boom.
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Prominent faces being tracked at OKIDB include TK Kurien, the Chief Investment Officer of Premji Invest, a venture capital company created by Azim Premji; Anish Shah, Group CFO, Mahindra Group; PK X Thomas, CTO, Reliance Brands; Brian Bade, CEO of Reliance Retail; and Vineet Sekhsaria, Country Head, Morgan Stanley, Real Estate Investing.
Also on OKIDB are Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal; Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal; Swiggy Co-Founder and CEO Nandan Reddy; Nykaa Co-Founder and CEO Falguni Nayar; Uber India’s director of driver operations, Pavan Vaish, and PayU’s commercial director, Nameet Potnis.
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Also under surveillance are Professor Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT, Kanpur; and Professor Deepak B Phatak, IIT, Bombay, known for updating Aakash, advertised by its manufacturer as “the cheapest tablet in the world”.
An analysis of the entries shows that venture capitalists and angel investors are the most tracked people on OKIDB. The focus is also on the founders, CEO, CFO, CTO and COO of key industries.
The fast growing digital health sector is the most tracked portfolio, followed by the digital education sector. After demonetization, the Modi government has been pushing for digital payments. As expected, the main payment applications are part of the database. So are the supply chain portfolio and delivery applications. New technology companies in the urban transport segment are also under surveillance.
Some of the entries in OKIDB under key segments are:
Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists:
* Matrix Partners India, whose portfolios include the Indian rideshare company Ola, Practo (a platform that connects patients with doctors) and the Indian payment gateway app Razor Pay.
* Kalaari Capital, whose portfolios include Indian e-commerce companies Snapdeal, Myntra and Urban Ladder.
* Seed Fund, whose portfolios include sports media firm sportskeeda, and RedBUS.in, a route, ticket and inventory aggregator for the intercity bus network.
* Fireside Ventures that has endorsed brands like MamaEarth and Ayurveda Experience.
The list includes Japanese officials from the Incubate fund in India, whose portfolios in the country include ShopKirana, the leading brand of Go-to-Market platforms, Yulu, the bike-sharing rental platform, and Gaming Monk, a platform for electronic sports games.
Also at OKIDB are German officials from NEXT STEP India, which is a market discovery program for German startups to explore opportunities in India; and senior officials at Everstone Capital, which manages assets worth $ 5 billion in private equity, real estate, and venture capital.
Digital health
* Wellthy Therapeutics backed by Cipla, offering clinically validated digital therapies.
* Strand Life Sciences, the Bengaluru-based silico technology company, named a technology pioneer twice by the World Economic Forum.
* Gramin Healthcare, which provides primary health care services in rural India.
Digital education
* Byjus, adda247, Oliveboard, the best learning apps in the country.
* Learnyst, the all-in-one platform that helps educators build their own online platforms to teach live classes.
* Kenznow, one of the leading online platforms for education abroad.
* Auxilo, which offers study loans for Indian students.
Payments
* The nation’s leading payment apps Paytm, Razorpay and PhonePe.
* Pine Labs, an Indian trading platform valued at $ 1 billion.
Avenues Payments, which provides the CCAvenue payment gateway that it had associated with 60 Indian banks.
* FSS payment gateway that had partnered with merchants like IRCTC.
Supply chain
* Mahindra Logistics
* Truxapp, supply chain transportation app
* Shadowfax, a leading platform for collaborative B2B last mile delivery services
* Mojro, a logistics services startup
* Logistimo, a supply chain company that connects remote communities with essential services.
Delivery Applications:
* Online supermarket apps Bigbasket and Daily Bazaar, Zappfresh and Fresh Meat Market
* Zomato, Swiggy and FoodPanda food delivery apps; online meat delivery platforms; and now.bike, a B2B delivery platform for micro-retailers.
Urban Transportation: In addition to Yulu, the database includes Cityflo, the premium app-based commuter company; Rapido, one of the largest bicycle taxi services in India; and Lithium Urban Technologies, an all-electric mobility service provider.
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