Silicon Valley veteran Padmasree Warrior comes home to India, scouts for startups

She is a Silicon Valley veteran, married to a hugely successful entrepreneur-investor. For seven years she powered Cisco, one of the best known technology companies in the world. So when Padmasree Warrior visits India’s top ecommerce offices, we sit up and take notice.

Turns out Padmasree and her husband Mohandas Warrior are looking to invest in Indian companies, the Economic Times reported today. And yes, that includes startups – particularly those that show potential to go international.

“India is at a very interesting phase right now where there is a lot of innovation happening and I wanted to get a first-hand look at that,” 55-year-old Padmasree was quoted as saying.

Padmasree was CTO at Cisco before she left this year. According to Forbes, she supervised six acquisitions for the company in 2014 and 10 in 2013, helping Cisco grow in influence. A native of Andhra Pradesh, she visits India every year.

Startups that dream big

But this time she dropped in at the campuses of Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Kalaari Capital. “I got a feel of how these new companies are getting built in India, what makes them tick, what their challenges are, there is a lot of learning from the Silicon Valley that I can bring here,” she said.

China is on her radar too. “Market, capital, and innovation is equal in India, China, and the US right now,” she said, having visited China last week.

“I will be going for companies that won’t be addressing just the India market. Time is right for them to be built in India, Silicon Valley, and China all at the same time,” she said.

Padmasree says technology and consumer internet are some of the areas she and her husband want to invest in.

Indians abroad

That is how many Indians based abroad have begun to feel as startups boom in India. Three or four startups are born each day, and an equal number get funding. The first three quarters of the year saw US$6.4 billion in funding for Indian startups.

California-based investor Ram Sriram said at an event in Bangalore this week that he was happy to see the startup scene emerging in India. He would like to do early stage investing in one of India’s “disruptive” ideas.

Earlier this year the Franchise India website had documented how several Indians abroad were flocking back to the homeland to launch internet-based companies.

Roadblocks

So, where’re the opportunities?