NEW DELHI: Delhi-based Intex Technologies has launched a Rs 150-200-crore fund to invest in startups with a strategic fit, the latest mobile phone maker to do so after Micromax and Xiaomi announced plans to back early-stage startups. The first investment from the corpus has gone into Rooter, a startup creating a mobile app to enable sports fans to interact live with each other during a match.Intex Technologies, which owns the Gujarat Lions IPL team and reported revenue of Rs 6,213 crore for 2015-16, plans to invest from its balance sheet primarily in businesses with which it has synergy, such as electronics, apps, mobile phones, human resources and sports. "Investments in early-stage startups are part of our larger plan to diversify into other businesses such as sports, healthcare and internet of things. Equity stakes in startups may range from 10-15% to 25% while ticket sizes may range from Rs 10-15 crore," said Keshav Bansal, director, Intex Technologies.The move to launch the fund comes almost a month after competitor Micromax announced setting up of a new $100-million (about Rs 650-crore) fund, Orbis Capital , for startups in consumer internet sector across the world, targeting 1012 investments with a ticket size of $3-5 million (about Rs 20-33 crore).Chinese handset manufacturer Xiaomi recently said it is interested in investing in more startups this year. The company had announced plans to invest $100 million in venture-backed Indian startups in hardware and software technologies.

Source: Economic Times March 28, 2017 03:22 UTC