Bertelsmann’s India investment arm to bet on up to six startups in 2019
BII has made 17 investments so far in India including the latest $27 million funding in Pune-based agritech startup AgroStar in March this year. It had exited music streaming service Saavn post its merger with Reliance Jio (as JioSaavn) in December last year.
- Bertelsmann India Investments (BII), the strategic investment arm of Germany-based one of the world's largest mass media companies Bertelsmann, will invest in five-six startups in 2019.
- BII, which backs startups at Series B stage of funding, has been investing in Indian startups since 2013 and had backed companies including music streaming service Saavn (merged with Jio in December last year), Tiger Global Management-backed online classifieds platform Quikr, online lending startup Lendingkart etc.
- "While we began (in 2013) with making a couple of investments a year
- BII had exited Saavn post its merger with Jio that competes with recently launched global music streaming service Spotify along with Gaana, Airtel Wynk, Apple Music etc.