Two trailblazing tech pioneers are working to seed the Texas-India enterprise connection

When former Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala moved to the Dallas space together with his household in 2007, it was intentional.

Neemuchwala, who was born in India and emigrated to the USA in 1997, selected North Texas for its household values and heat climate — and other people.

In June 2020, Neemuchwala, 53, left his high put up on the $eight billion-a-year, India-based know-how firm, citing household commitments. For the subsequent section of his profession, he needed to do one thing totally different. He needed to offer again to the group and unfold the phrase about Dallas.

“It’s greater than what you see within the TV collection,” he mentioned. “To me, it’s an untold story: The true Silicon Valley of the USA was in Dallas.”

He’s referring to Richardson’s telecom hall, however he’s additionally describing his imaginative and prescient of the area’s future.

That’s why his subsequent cease after WiPro is a partnership with longtime entrepreneur, investor and former know-how government Dayakar Puskoor to create Dallas Enterprise Capital.

Neemuchwala calls Dallas’ mixture of expertise, potential clients, enterprise local weather and wealth a “good storm to create a enterprise capital ecosystem.”

Puskoor, 58, has a wealthy historical past of enterprise capital domestically. In 2012, he began Naya Ventures, a enterprise capital agency that has invested in 22 firms with 5 profitable exits. The corporate he based within the mid-1990s, JPMobile, was bought in 2005 to Good Know-how for $500 million.

Regardless of their stature as D-FW tech leaders, Puskoor and Neemuchwala really met by a shocking mutual good friend: Neemuchwala’s son. Whereas in school on the College of Texas at Austin, his son landed an internship at Puskoor’s Naya Ventures. He was the one who linked the dots between the 2 entrepreneurs and made the introduction.

It clearly went effectively. The pair launched Dallas Enterprise Capital in September and have already set to work. They received’t say how a lot of their very own cash they put into the fund, however Puskoor says the full companions’ contributions quantity to 7%.

They’re focusing on a really particular sort of portfolio firm: early-stage business-to-business firms specializing in rising applied sciences like cloud-based software program, synthetic intelligence/machine studying and prolonged actuality.

They’re singularly targeted on this area — if different firms method them that don’t match the factors, even when Puskoor and Neemuchwala trust within the product, they flip them away.

In December, the agency introduced its first funding: $3.5 million in Austin-based PLNAR, a man-made intelligence and augmented actuality firm that paperwork property harm by a smartphone in an immersive and interactive manner.

Dallas Enterprise Capital’s goal funding is between $2 million and $5 million — a spokesperson calls it their “candy spot.” The agency will solely put money into firms bringing in at the very least $1 million in annual income, although they’ve informally mentored firms decrease than that threshold.

Like many issues within the enterprise world, COVID-19 has upended how the enterprise capital agency interacts with potential portfolio firms. In some methods, Puskoor thinks it has modified issues for the higher.

“COVID-19 created an atmosphere proper now the place there’s no extra monopoly for the Bay space,” he mentioned. “You will be sitting wherever on the planet as a enterprise capitalist and as a startup.”

Then once more, it does take the intimacy out of investing, he added.

“I by no means thought I might put money into an organization with out assembly them and having a espresso or a dinner.”

There’s a motive it’s essential for Puskoor and Neemuchwala to have face time with portfolio firms — they view mentorship, not simply an unfettered funding, as an enormous a part of the job.

Puskoor has adopted the identical motto at Dallas Enterprise Capital that he used for Naya Ventures: “entrepreneurs investing in entrepreneurs.”

In a world that’s turning into more and more saturated with enterprise capitalists, a lot of whom began out as funding bankers somewhat than within the know-how business, Neemuchwala says startups will get to determine which capital they need to settle for.

They are saying Dallas Enterprise Capital’s holistic method to enterprise units it aside: It means assist with messaging, with mentoring, with expertise and with connecting two firms to one another.

It’s additionally about technique and rising an organization. Puskoor places it by way of steps. As soon as an organization will get to $1 million annual income, he says, the subsequent step is attending to $10 million, and from $10 million to $15 million.

That course of will not be all the time intuitive — Puskoor and Neemuchwala know from private expertise.

“I used to see that simply getting an introduction was not sufficient,” he mentioned. “It’s not solely mentorship, however how do you assist them shut the deal? To shut the deal, you need to work behind the scenes.”

Regardless of the identify, Dallas Enterprise Capital has two places of work — one in Irving and one in Hyderabad, India. In complete, the agency has near 10 staff, with 4 in India.

Typically, Puskoor says the purpose is to put money into each U.S. and Indian firms, however provides that the majority of their earlier investments have been firms primarily based in the USA. And relating to Indian firms, they hope to assist them show their product in India after which come to the U.S. and base their firms in Dallas.

They usually use the time period “cross-pollination.” Over the subsequent 10 years, they plan to put money into 5 to 6 firms within the U.S. and the identical quantity in India every year.

The 2 entrepreneurs view India as a rustic ripe for funding. Puskoor describes India as a altering panorama, going from extra of a providers nation to product and know-how.

Neemuchwala sees D-FW and India as comparable areas with numerous expertise. He factors to the variety of unicorns, or startups valued at $1 billion or extra, within the two international locations. He sees India’s numbers steadily rising to compete with international locations just like the U.S., China and the UK.

U.S.-India Chamber of Commerce DFW president Neel Gonuguntla is aware of Puskoor’s and Neemuchwala’s work. Actually, Puskoor serves on the group’s board of administrators. She echoes their evaluation.

“There are numerous of us who imagine the U.S.-India commerce relationship, and notably the Texas-India relationship, is stuffed with alternative ready to be tapped,” she mentioned.

Texas receives the most important quantity of Indian funding within the U.S., Gonuguntla mentioned. Indian direct funding in U.S. firms totaled $5 billion in 2019, in response to the U.S. Commerce Consultant’s workplace. American buyers put $45.9 billion into Indian firms the identical 12 months.

And Texas boasts the second-largest group of Indian-Individuals within the U.S. It’s a connection that state leaders have fostered.

In 2018, Gov. Greg Abbott led a commerce mission to India, visiting Mumbai, Bengaluru, Agra and New Delhi. Whereas there, he visited Wipro’s innovation labs in Bengaluru and introduced that the corporate can be creating 150 jobs at a brand new cybersecurity and superior know-how hub in Plano.

That journey additionally yielded a $500 million funding by JSW Group in a Houston-area metal mill.

Apart from their Indian heritage, entrepreneurial spirits and love of chess, what Puskoor and Neemuchwala additionally share is a love for Dallas so sturdy it’s palpable. The boys each raised their kids right here.

As Puskoor’s spouse as soon as informed him: “I’m not shifting wherever else.”

Elizabeth Djinis is a particular contributor who previously wrote for the Tampa Bay Occasions and Sarasota Herald-Tribune. She is also a former Dallas Morning Information reporting intern.