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Here is an interesting bit of information from the list of foreign direct investment applications approved by the Indian government. Google Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore, has acquired 30 per cent units of Ventureast TeNet Fund II, a SEBI registered venture capital fund, for Rs 15 crore ($3.75 million).

Ventureast TeNet Fund is managed by Ventureast Fund Advisors India Ltd. The fund began with a corpus of $15 million with a mandate to finance start-ups in the telecom and IT industries. Ray Stata, Chairman and co-founder of Analog Devices of the US, had invested $10 million alone in Fund I. The TeNet group of IIT, Chennai, is the technology advisor, while Sarath Naru of APIDC is one of the co-founders of the fund. It typically will invest $2.5 million $10 million in an early stage venture.

With Google acquiring 30 per cent in Fund II for $3.75 million, the size of the fund II is likely to be $12.5 million.

This is Google's third investment in Indian venture capital funds. It had earlier invested undisclosed amounts in Mumbai-based Seed Fund and in Bangalore-based Erasmic Fund.

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Google Takes An LP Approach In India; Invests In Erasmic And Seedfund