Cisco announced an investment in Aavishkaar, a venture fund founded to promote development in rural and semi-urban India. It will invest in Aavishkaar India II Company (Aavishkaar II) and will collaborate with other investors to drive sustainable business models with social impact that utilize power of the network.
Cisco has committed up to $200 million of venture capital investments to the country, of which almost half has been utilized. “We has been contributing to the communities where we do business and it’s no different in India where we’ve located our Globalisation Centre East and employ thousands of employees who contribute greatly to our engineering operations. Investing in community-oriented initiatives such as Aavishkaar enables to positively impact economic and social development in the country,” said Edzard Overbeek, president, Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China
Cisco’s direct investments in the region cover a broad spectrum of technology-related investments which are complementary to the growing scale and reach of the investments Aavishkaar will make in rural transformation.