Mumbai: A sovereign seed fund, jointly promoted by India and Israel, will fund ideas that can transform sectors and make a difference to people's lives rather than a narrow focus on the profits and returns on investment. Venture capital and private equity funds have their own limitations such as investing in a proven business model with an aim to look for massive returns and hence they can't afford to invest in ideas, said Dr Amiram Appelbaum, chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority.
"We would like those disruptive technologies that people still don't believe in," he said. "The founders themselves still did not prove anything. But they have a great idea."
The India-Israel Industrial R&D & Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) is a cooperation between India's Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Israel Innovation Authority with a commitment of $40 million. This has been developed to promote and support joint industrial R&D projects in focused sectors such as water, healthcare, agriculture, energy and information and communication technology. The startups will have to convince the experts to get the funding from the agencies.
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