Foxconn top executives meet startups in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn’s founder Terry Gou is on a three-city India tour and will be in Bengaluru on Saturday. Part of his high-level delegation was in the city a day ahead of Gou to meet with startups and government officials.
A representative of the team told TOI that they were interested in engaging with the Indian startup ecosystem in areas like energy, mobility, e-commerce, hyperlocal.“We are looking at investments or working on products and projects leveraging our strengths and theirs to find the best match. In India, we are already working with some startups like InMobi,” said Joey Huang, manager–product development and management in FIH (Foxconn International Holdings) Mobile.
Gou has come to India with a 35-member strong delegation including Vincent Tong Wen-Hsin, chairman and director of investment at FIH Mobile and its CEO Calvin Chih. Gou is expected to interact with technology startups in Bengaluru on Saturday. Flipkart, Snapdeal, Ola, Urban Ladder, Swiggy, Perfint, BigBasket, and Ather Energy are among the over 30 ventures that the team is meeting.
This is the Foxconn delegation’s second visit to India in less than two months and Gou is expected to return to India after four weeks to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The $130-billion Foxconn is best known for making Apple devices.
Sources told TOI that Foxconn has expressed interest in adding manufacturing muscle to Indian device makers by helping them with prototyping and design capabilities. They are also looking at introducing Indian startups to the Chinese and Japanese markets and explore strategic investments in some of them.
“They are exploring India at this stage and Nasscom is helping by curating companies for them in various sectors,” said Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council.
TOI had reported earlier that Foxconn plans to partner with the Adani Group to set up at least four electronics manufacturing facilities in India. Top executives of Foxconn are said to have visited Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat earlier this month to look at possible locations for the facilities.