After Alibaba, China’s Gobi Partners shows interest in startups focused on Indian market

After Ant Financial – an affiliate group of Alibaba – invested in Indian third-party payment service Paytm, there has been an increasing interest among Chinese investors to expand into India.

The latest among these is Gobi Partners, which confirms to Tech in Asia that it is exploring an interest in India.

It’s an early stage fund established over ten years ago to focus on home-grown digital innovation in China. Today, Gobi manages five funds, and has six offices across China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Its latest fund, called Gobi ASEAN Fund, is anchored by Singapore Media Development Authority (MDA). “This fund covers all ASEAN-domiciled companies. Some of the Singapore-domiciled startups may also be focused on the Indian market,” Kay-Mok Ku tells Tech in Asia.

Gobi is currently talking to several Indian entrepreneurs in Singapore.

To put this into context, there has been a wave of Indian startups that have moved their headquarters to Singapore in the past few years. This is due to the city’s pro-business policies, vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, excellent infrastructure, low-tax system, and strong legal environment.

Gobi did not say when it would enter the Indian market directly. To begin with, it may pick an Indian startup headquartered in Singapore.

The fund has a diverse portfolio including travel site Direction Travels, spicy seafood delivery company Jacky’s Shrimp, photography app Camera360, and voice recognition software Pachira. One of its portfolio companies, Madhouse, a mobile marketing firm, has expanded into India.