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Shravin Bharti Mittal, Founder of Unbound and MD Bharti Global,speaking to ANI on the sidelines of World Economic Forum, said they are excited about India's fintech sector and enterprise software business.
Shravin, son of Bharti Enterprises' Chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal, said they are constantly tracking hundreds of companies in these space. "We're excited about the fintech landscape in India, with both fintech and enterprise software businesses, good companies are coming out. We're constantly tracking hundreds of those companies on a yearly basis," he said in an interview at Davos. Unbound was started in late 2017. The prime objective of Unbound, as per Shravin, is to build and back generational companies in the cutting-edge technology businesses. It invests in enterprise software, financial services in the US, Europe, India, and Africa. "We have a portfolio of about 24 companies, all world class businesses, and through this investment platform, we want to become the backer and the capital and the partner of choice," Shravin said. "We are predominantly investors in growth stage companies growth stage for us are companies that are already selling products in the market, typically have USD 5 to 10 million of revenue and above and are really looking for scale capita," he added. "So companies from the US looking to come to Europe or India. Companies from India that are looking for expansion capital, expansion partners want a good distribution network, need a partner that can help them scale. That's what we offer," he further said. Shravin Bharti Mittal says India has been a focus for Unbound. "We've had three investments already. CARS24 was the largest investment we had started in 2018," Shravin said. Shravin is in Davos after over 12 years and says he excited about investing in companies in India. "It's been a long break. It's good to be back. It's good to have the interaction with global leaders, all very excited about the possibility of investing in companies in India and that typically becomes a great focus of conversation," he said. Asked what perception change does he sees about India, he said, "I think the biggest change is I think the narrative has completely shifted. I think if you go back to 2016, I think 2016 was a pivotal year. UPI came in, telecom revolution for the 3rd or 4th time happened." "And in 2020, I think you really started to see a narrative shift, and the narrative was Make in India, which Prime Minister Modi had started, and I think you're starting to see the benefits of the narrative shift that we're having. Manufacturing jobs have increased. PLI schemes are doing increasingly well for India," he further said. He added that India is "punching at the scale that we always hope that it will". Further, he also spoke about the progress on the satellite-based telecom services through OneWeb. Bharti is the largest shareholder in Eutelsat OneWeb. Bharti Enterprises has already launched 635 satellites and is providing services in other parts of the world. It has in the past argued that companies should be required to pay licensing fees and acquire spectrum through auctions, just as traditional telecom operators do. "We've already received our licence approvals in India November 2023. We've got two ground stations in India already up and live. Allocation of spectrum was, I would say the last pending stand that I think..., which will be done on an allocation basis. And that makes sense in hard to reach places, you know, we have to get the spectrum to actually cater to the customers and so glad it's finally picking some momentum, but we have 645 satellites already in the sky," he explained. "I know there's been a lot of back and forth. Really what matters to us is providing the customer the best in class service, so we're ready to go," he said, referring to the debate on the process of spectrum allocation - administrative allocation or through auction. The telecom services major had been seeking what it called a "level playing field". "We are only the 2nd largest low Earth orbit constellation in the world after Starlink, so we have a position in the market, and I hope we can execute well," Shravin said. "I think the biggest focus will have to be on the user terminals, the user terminals that we put in remote villages and hill stations," he added. (ANI)
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