(Image source from: Deccan Chronicle)

An eminent Silicon Valley-based investor Asha Jadeja Motwani has urged Indian-origin startups in the Valley to go back to their roots and invest in homegrown startups.

Asha, in her keynote address at the third edition of the TiE Global Summit in New Delhi, spoke about her renewed focus on investments in India, the launch of the Motwani Institute of Thought Leadership in Innovation, and more.

Asha drew an analogy between Indian startups as rocket ships having immense potential. She also announced that 40 percent of her investments will now be in Indian startups as opposed to the earlier 20 percent.

Asha revealed that 90 percent of her investments in India will focus on Information Technology while the remaining 10 percent will be in the Biotechnology sector.

The investments will be dealt out across three tiers, Tier 1 being low-risk startups, founded by seasoned and repeat entrepreneurs. She looks at an investment between $ 300,000 to $ 1 million in this area.

Tier 2 is clone companies that have worked elsewhere.

"For instance, when a company which is doing well in Indonesia comes to India, chances are that it is going to do well. For this tier, the ticket size would be between $ 100,000 and $ 300,000. Tier 3 is a 'seeding-a-forest' kind of investment. This segment needs funding without strings attached. Here, the investment will be between $10,000 and $ 50,000. I will simply bet on people and will allow them to make mistakes," said Asha.

Asha also announced the launch of MITLI (Motwani Institute of Thought Leadership in Innovation), an institute enabling a curated annual exchange between top scholars at Stanford University and their counterparts in South Asia.

Born and raised in India, Asha is the wife of late Stanford Professor Rajeev Motwani, an angel investor who co-authored the PageRank algorithm of Google and mentored Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google Inc in 1998.

Asha is the founder of Dot Edu Ventures along with her late husband. She also runs an annual Rajeev Circle Fellowship, to create a corridor of entrepreneurship, community, and collaboration between Silicon Valley and South Asia.

-Sowmya Sangam