Sensing opportunity, Indian start-ups take passage to UK

LONDON: Forget computer engineers ordoctors. It's India's entrepreneurs who top the dowry list from overseas, notfrom matchmaking mammas, but from governments, trade missions and as inwardinvestors. Europe, at least the UK - Continental Europe isn't far behind - has"discovered" the value of Indian entrepreneurship, and wants them to come in andgive their jaded economies a shot in the arm. For the often rather surprisedgrooms in this matchmaking exercise, this isn't about empire-building oraspiration. It's a business opportunity to be grabbed. They can't quite figureout why they command such a huge dowry, but hey, who's saying no whenopportunity knocks? So, from crowd-sourcing to analytics, from pharma to defence to media, a slew of Indian start-ups are heading to the West, even as the big boys of India Inc are rushing to other emerging markets, and the rest of the world is rushing to India. Prabir Dasgupta, 63, who started Nevaeh Technology , which provides IT solutions, opened a UK subsidiary based near Manchester because Europe is known to be in the doldrums. "We knowthere are a lot of SMEs, with good IPR and skills, struggling to survive afterthe recession, for lack of capital or lack of resources. I want to partner withthem, or find ways to work with them, which I can't do sitting in India," hesays. Or take Sitash Shrivastav, 29, who runs Jade Magnet, a crowdsourcing web platform which provides media and creative solutions, matchingprofessionals with clients at the best price. He's just back from setting up hisUS office, and has opened one in the UK as well. His rationale is that a servicelike his, which gives values-for-money creative solutions, is just what westernclients are looking for. What many of these SMEs are finding isvalue-for-money opportunities in nouveau-poor European markets, one that's moreopen to their "we'll save you money" business models. And also, it'snice to be wanted. European countries like the UK are falling over backwards to woo inbound FDI, especially from India. Free office space, free consulting, free business development, walk-in visas "including a lot of wining and dining" as one says wryly. As Shabd Sharan Mishra, 33, Agra-based promoter of Renaissance E-learning , puts it, "Why go overseas? An honest answer is that it is easier to do business overseas than in India." That's even though his start-up has quite an impressive Indian client list, including the likes of ICICI Bank . Alpesh Patel, official dealmaker for UKTI, the UK government's inward investment department says he's hand-held over 35 SME inbound investments in the past few years, all at the start-up and SME level. On the ground, Indian start-ups find that a physicalpresence, however sketchy, helps to gain credibility with customers, suppliers,or investors. "Indian start-ups function differently from westerncompanies. They will first find clients, a revenue stream, and then build uptheir services and infrastructure to cater to them. Western clients tend toexpect a massive infrastructure before market entry so a local presence helpsbuild confidence," says Ratika Jain, London-based independent consultant who'sbeen advising the UK and Indian companies on cross-border operations for years.It's a sentiment echoed by others as Alpesh Patel says he often endsup often doing business development because "no Indian wants to invest a pennywithout seeing a clear revenue outcome." Adds Sitash Shrivastava: "We built JadeMagnet on the basis that we can keep upgrading our platform, but first we need alist of clients we work for. Yes, some of our western clients want to first seeif we have the capability. So, we then give them a list of our providers andclients." Jade Magnet has about 3,000 creative providers, and has worked with150 clients globally.