Ranjan Das (left), president and CEO of SAP India, with Bill McDermott, president and CEO of SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan, in Mumbai on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Mumbai, June 4: The venture fund arm of SAP, the 10.2-billion-euro business software firm, plans to invest in six Indian start-up companies in the next year.

It will be the first investment of SAP Ventures in the country. The entity has invested in over 75 companies in the US and Europe in the last 10 years.

“We are in talks with 12 companies in India and hope to close deals with three of them in the next three months, and more in the next six to 12 months. The average deal size should be between $4 million and $5 million. We could invest ourselves or form a syndicate and a network with Indian venture capital firms,” said Jai Das, partner, SAP Ventures, on the sidelines of the SAP India Summit 2008.

There are seven investment partners working in India for SAP Ventures, headed by Das.

SAP Ventures can pick up a maximum of 20 per cent in an Indian company. “We are not only looking at solutions for larger companies but also IT companies with a turnover of at least $5-10 million across segments which are developing products and solutions having a good market in India,” Das said.

Over the last 18 months, there has been a significant increase in the number of such companies.

Depending on the type of deals SAP Ventures strike in India, the company could look at setting up an office in the country.

“India has become a self-support hub for SAP because lots of innovations are happening in India,” Bill McDermott, president and CEO of SAP Americas and Asia Pacific Japan, said.

“In India, we are getting customers from across industries and its various segments,” he said.