Silicon Valley based investor Keyur Patel doesn't often bet on Indian startups. But when he does, he wants to make it big. Patel, chairman of the $1.5-billion Fuse Capital and a heavy investor in technology companies, has taken an interest in Kerala-based startup Fin Robotics, which launched its wearable technology product at major US retailers such as Brookstone, Bloomingdales and Amazon on Tuesday. "This is pretty huge. India doesn't have hardware startups that have broken out at the global level. It launched with just $200,000 that was crowdfunded.
They are bucking the trend big time and are fighting against many odds," said Sanjay Vijay Kumar, chairman of Startup Village. The Kerala-based startup, which shot to fame through a kick-starter campaign two years ago, will also be promoted by the creator of Donna Karan New York (DKNY) in her stores such as Urban Zen. "Everyone in Silicon Valley says India can't make hardware, so it was purely a huge emotional choice for me to do a stealth project. "It had to be an underdog story to prove all the logic wrong," said Patel, chairman and founder at Fuse Global, which is a major Hollywood financier as well as backer of technology companies. Fin Robotics has built 'Neyya', a ring shaped wearable device which talks to other devices using a gesture touch interface. The Bluetooth device, which will retail at over $139, can control gadgets such as smartphones and televisions sets.
The startup is being built out of Nedumangad, a small village away from Thiruvananthapuram. After raising $200,000 through a crowdfunding project, the company had trouble delivering the product in time as India's hardware ecosystem is still very nascent. Rohildev N, cofounder of Fin Robotics could not be reached till late evening on Tuesday.
"People with Valley experience like Keyur were the missing link in the puzzle to creating these worldclass startups from India. Their knowledge comes in handy when you need knowledge to really scale up," said Sanjay Vijay Kumar.
Patel, who has led companies including Inktomi and Maxtor, put together a team in Silicon Valley and Japan to assist the startup with design, manufacturing and marketing, and also picked up an undisclosed amount of stake in the company. Culture Unplugged Labs, a partner of Fuse Global, helped Fin Robotics with design and manufacturing expertise.
The Kochi-based startup incubator Startup Village is currently helping multiple hardware startups including Exploride, which just raised over $600,000 in crowdfunding for a smart car device. Fin Robotics has also raised capital from Kalaari Capital. "Indian venture capitalists are pretty shy of hardware. But Silicon Valley hardware just didn't happen. Venture capital played a big role in it," said Patel, who has invested heavily in the media and entertainment industry. While India's electronic goods market is large, the country's hardware story is almost nonexistent, with most of the companies choosing to trade in products that are designed and manufactured abroad. However, this has started to change of late.
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They are bucking the trend big time and are fighting against many odds," said Sanjay Vijay Kumar, chairman of Startup Village. The Kerala-based startup, which shot to fame through a kick-starter campaign two years ago, will also be promoted by the creator of Donna Karan New York (DKNY) in her stores such as Urban Zen. "Everyone in Silicon Valley says India can't make hardware, so it was purely a huge emotional choice for me to do a stealth project. "It had to be an underdog story to prove all the logic wrong," said Patel, chairman and founder at Fuse Global, which is a major Hollywood financier as well as backer of technology companies. Fin Robotics has built 'Neyya', a ring shaped wearable device which talks to other devices using a gesture touch interface. The Bluetooth device, which will retail at over $139, can control gadgets such as smartphones and televisions sets.
The startup is being built out of Nedumangad, a small village away from Thiruvananthapuram. After raising $200,000 through a crowdfunding project, the company had trouble delivering the product in time as India's hardware ecosystem is still very nascent. Rohildev N, cofounder of Fin Robotics could not be reached till late evening on Tuesday.
"People with Valley experience like Keyur were the missing link in the puzzle to creating these worldclass startups from India. Their knowledge comes in handy when you need knowledge to really scale up," said Sanjay Vijay Kumar.
Patel, who has led companies including Inktomi and Maxtor, put together a team in Silicon Valley and Japan to assist the startup with design, manufacturing and marketing, and also picked up an undisclosed amount of stake in the company. Culture Unplugged Labs, a partner of Fuse Global, helped Fin Robotics with design and manufacturing expertise.
The Kochi-based startup incubator Startup Village is currently helping multiple hardware startups including Exploride, which just raised over $600,000 in crowdfunding for a smart car device. Fin Robotics has also raised capital from Kalaari Capital. "Indian venture capitalists are pretty shy of hardware. But Silicon Valley hardware just didn't happen. Venture capital played a big role in it," said Patel, who has invested heavily in the media and entertainment industry. While India's electronic goods market is large, the country's hardware story is almost nonexistent, with most of the companies choosing to trade in products that are designed and manufactured abroad. However, this has started to change of late.
You Updated On Current Breaking News, Latest Retail News, Astrology Horoscope Mantra Services
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