Indiaventure200.com draws huge response

Once only to be found in Silicon Valley, internet entrepreneurs are now being hunted down worldwide and venture capitalists expect them to boost fortunes of many emerging countries like India which has an army of English speaking and highly trained people. As a large number of Indians have big ideas but no money, the site was launched to tap them.

Results of the first round of the `entrepreneur hunt contest’ will be announced by March 1 on the contest website. Many half-completed applications have also made its way into its web site. In fact, McKinsey officials say of the 4,000 initial applications, more than 50 per cent could be rejected due to lack of genuine and impractibility of ideas.

After three rounds of selections, the best ideas would adjudged winner by June 30th and venture capitalists would fund the projects, say organisers. “It’s not necessary that we would fund only the top three… we will fund all ideas which has the potential to make it big,” McKinsey officials add.

Though as per a confidentiality clause, McKinsey hs refused to talk about the business ideas, insiders say range from astrology sites to stock trading guidance and even guides on which food to eat and which car to buy. On the last day of first round, McKinsey received 1,000 aplications which were sent by courier to its Mumbai offices. In order to keep official records, McKinsey had advised competitors to send three copies of their ideas in print to its offices.

“The applications picked up only on the last day. Earlier we were expecting to close at around 2,500 to 3,000 business ideas. But this was a surprise,” says he. “Let’s see how many of them were serious,” he added.

The contest would continue on an ongoing basis so that McKinsey can search all those entrepreneurs who have the capability but no funds. While venture capitalists would take stake in the company in quid pro quo, McKinsey has decided to launch this initiative on a pro bono basis.

The reasons for McKinsey and other multinationals’ optimism on Indian entrepreneurs is obvious. Many Silicon Valley start-ups, initiated by Indians, are now a legend on the Wall Street.

As per a McKinsey-Nasscom survey, internet is expected to witnesss an explosive growth in India. Internet subscribers in India will grow by 130 per cent to reach 5.3 lakh by March 2000 as against 2.3 lakh by the same time last year.

The subscriber base is further expected to reach the 13 lakh by March 2001, a 145 per cent increase over the previous year. This high growth rate is also being fuelled by the increase in number of installed personal computers (PCs). The high penetration rate of internet-ready PCs in the home segment is leading to fast internet adoption rates by the home user.