Is India – following Singapore and South Korea – becoming one of Asia’s top destinations for Russian investors? Exemplifying this growing interest in the Indian market, Ru-Net, a Moscow-based venture fund, took part last month in a $36 million funding round for Delhi-based grocery delivery startup PepperTap.
Also participating in the round were e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, which led it, JAFCO and BeeNext, along with existing investors Sequoia India and SAIF Partners, as reported last month by India Times.
An on-demand grocery delivery startup, PepperTap plans to use the funds raised to expand its presence to 75 cities across India in the short term, meanwhile strengthening its technological and supply chain capabilities. It also plans to double its headcount to more than 5,000 by the end of this year in order to support its operations, notes India Times.
PepperTap said that it is also in the advanced stages of talks to raise another $20 million.
A new market for Russian players?
Ru-Net is a major venture fund backed by Leonid Boguslavsky, a figure on the Russian and international high-tech scene. As many other funds with Russian backers or management, Ru-Net has become more active outside Russian than within.
Over the last few years, the fund has shown particular interest in Indian markets. In 2012, Ru-Net invested $17 million in two Indian e-commerce companies, and in 2014 the fund invested in Indian mobile recharge platform FreeCharge.
Also enthusiastically investing in the subcontinent is DST Global, a major global venture fund managed by Yuri Milner. In July this year, DST Global participated in a $36 million funding round for Grofers, a competitor of PepperTap. In 2014, the fund led a $210 million investment round in leading Indian online retailer Flipkart.
Another Russian investor interested in the Indian market is Boris Ryabov, managing partner of venture fund Bright Capital. A few weeks ago he contributed an undisclosed amount to a $1.7 million round of funding for Indian food delivery service Inner Chef, along with Ukrainian and local investors.
Also strengthening ties with India is Skolkovo. In February this year, 15 IT companies from the Russian tech hub took part in IndiaSoft, a major industry conference and B2B networking event.
In September, a delegation of scientists, educators and ministry officials from India paid a visit to Skolkovo on a fact-finding mission to study the opportunities available for Indian students and startups in Russia.
