New Economy Under Chinese Radar, Tech Start-Ups, Apps Being Watched: Report

The Overseas Key Individual DataBase (OKIDB), created by Chinese firm Zhenhua Data, has over 1,400 entries covering details of India's new economy, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.

Those on the 'foreign targets' list constitute venture capitalists, angel investors, founders and chief technology officers of the multiple startups, e-commerce platforms, and foreigner investors in India.

The list includes over 10,000 Indian individuals and organisations who under the radar and comes at a time when Chinese investment in Indian startups has spiked by over 10 times from $ 381 million in 2016 to $4.6 billion in 2019.

However, the escalating border tensions has led to uncertainties about the future of this investment.

The prominent individuals being tracked include the Chief Investment Officer at the Premji Invest, a venture capital company set up by Azim Premji; Anish Shah, Group CFO, Mahindra Group; PK X Thomas, CTO, Reliance Brands; Brian Bade, Chief Executive, Reliance Retail; and Vineet Sekhsaria, Country Head, Morgan Stanley, Real Estate Investing.

Also under the radar are Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal; Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal; Swiggy co-founder and CEO Nandan Reddy; Nykaa co-founder and CEO Falguni Nayar; Uber India's head of driver operations Pavan Vaish, and PayU business head Nameet Potnis.

An analysis of the entries reveal that venture capitalists are the most watched and monitored people in OKIDB.

The rapidly expanding digital health sector is the one most tracked portfolio, followed by the digital education sector. The top payment apps are part of the database ever since the Modi government pushed for digital payments post-demonetisation.

Some of the entries in OKIDB under key segments include:

Angel investors and venture capitalists:

* Matrix Partners India, whose portfolios include Ola, Practo, and Razor Pay.

* Kalaari Capital, whose portfolios include Snapdeal, Myntra & Urban Ladder.

* Seed Fund and RedBUS.in

*Fireside Ventures such as MamaEarth and the Ayurveda Experience.

The list includes the Japanese officials on Incubate fund in India, whose portfolios in the country include ShopKirana, leading Go-to-Market platform brand, Yulu, the rental bike-sharing platform, and Gaming Monk, an esports gaming platform.

Also in OKIDB are German officials of NEXT STEP India, which is a market discovery program for German startups to explore opportunities in India; and top officials of the Everstone Capital, which manages assets worth $5 billion across private equity, real estate, and venture capital.

Digital Healthcare

* Cipla-backed Wellthy Therapeutics, that delivers clinically-validated digital therapies.

* Strand Life Sciences, the Bengaluru based silico technology company named as the technology pioneer twice at the World Economic Forum.

* Gramin Healthcare, that provides primary healthcare services in Rural India.

Digital Education

* Byjus, adda247, Oliveboard, India's top learning apps.

* Learnyst, that helps educators build their own online platforms for live classes.

* Kenznow, an online platform for education abroad.

* Auxilo, that offers study loans for Indian students.

Payments

* Country's leading payment apps Paytm, Razorpay, and PhonePe.

* Pine Labs, an Indian merchant platform valued at USD 1 billion.

*Avenues Payments, that provides the payment gateway CCAvenue that had partnered 60 Indian banks.

* FSS payment gateway that had partnered with merchants like IRCTC.

Supply Chain

* Mahindra Logistics

* Truxapp, supply chain transport app

* Shadowfax, a leading crowdsourced B2B last mile delivery services platform

* Mojro, a logistics service startup

* Logistimo, supply chain firm that connects remote communities with essential services.

Delivery Apps

* Online supermarket apps Bigbasket and Daily Bazaar, Zappfresh & Fresh Meat Market

* Food delivery apps Zomato, Swiggy and FoodPanda; online meat delivery platforms; and now.bike, B2B delivery platform for micro retailers.

Urban Transportation

Besides Yulu, the database includes Cityflo, the app-based premium daily commute company; Rapido, one of India's largest bike taxi services; and Lithium Urban Technologies, a fully electric mobility service provider.

Also Read: President To Chief Justice Of India, China Monitoring Over 10,000 Indians: Report