V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad , Oct. 31

THE Indian technology product development work is set to grow, and more and more venture capitalists are reaching out to invest in domestic companies with product orientation, said Mr Krishna Kittu Kolluri, Executive Vice-President, Security Products Group, Juniper Networks.

Mr Kolluri, who co-founded Healtheon Inc along with Mr Pavan Nigam and Mr Jim Clarke, told Business Line that he was "poised to quit Juniper by the end of this year and join as general partner of a leading global venture capital firm with special interest in Indian tech firms."

However, he did not name the venture fund. Mr Kolluri said from January, his role would be to identify good investments for IT product and intellectual property (IP) companies, where India would be central to the VC's investment plan.

Mr Kolluri, an IIT-Madras product, joined Juniper through an acquisition of Netscreen in April 2004 for about $4 billion. Prior to this, Mr Kolluri was General Manager at Netscreen, a position he held following Netscreen's acquisition of Neoteris in November 2003. He is on board some US technology firms.

Neoteris was a success story with an operations and development team in Hyderabad. The company was sold to Netscreen for $300 million.

Mr Kolluri, who is engaged actively with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Silicon Valley chapter, said, "A lot of venture capital firms are turning towards India because of abundant talent and technology capabilities. This initiative to serve as a VC fits with my strategy of helping Indian firms go the product way."

"All through, Indian companies have made a mark as services providers, but to scale up in value, they need to focus on IP creation. With strategic inputs, many entrepreneurs will be able to make a mark globally." "I am in talks with the local chapter of TiE and look forward to playing a role in taking some Indian product companies global," said Mr Kolluri.

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