Nokia is investing about $150 million more in its direct venture arm, Nokia Growth Partners, more than doubling the size of its current fund. The priority for the new money: India and China, it says. It will start venture arm in those countries soon.
Menlo Park, CA-based Nokia Growth Partners was set up in 2004 to directly manage $100 million of Nokia's money. Its investments include mobile/online streaming service Kyte, Finland-based graphics firm Bitboys, and India's Sasken Communications, among others. In total, Nokia's total venture investments are more than $900 million...it has invested more than $600 million into early-stage global funds of BlueRun Ventures, formerly Nokia Venture Partners, since 1998.
Globe and Mail: Rick Simonson, Nokia's CFO, said the company is not using Nokia Growth Partners to try to find the next Google or Amazon of the mobile Internet. Instead, it looks for firms that have existing products and customers, in which it can invest $8-million to $10-million during the life of the relationship and see a twofold return on investment.
From the release: Target investments include companies creating innovative mobile applications and services that encourage rapid adoption of mobile solutions, such as context and location based services, mobile payments, mobile advertising, music and entertainment and other mobile services and software.
( mocoNews.net )
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