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In an unique interview with MintGIC’s group chief funding officer Bryan Yeo shared insights on the agency’s AI funding thesis, the position of its flagship Bridge Discussion board, a platform connecting AI startups with world firms, and the way it’s also deploying AI internally to enhance funding choices.
Edited excerpts:
Amid the prevailing geopolitical uncertainty, notably round US-India commerce ties, how is GIC positioning itself in India, particularly in AI-related investments?
We actually acknowledge the rising geopolitical and structural uncertainties globally, together with across the US-India tech and commerce relationship. Nonetheless, we’re not overly involved about near-term volatility. At GIC, we take a long-term, thematic method to investing. Synthetic intelligence is not only transformational, however foundational: a multi-decade theme.
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So, our focus stays on enduring alternatives like AI, the place we see important worth creation, particularly in a rising financial system like India. Whereas geopolitical dangers are factored into our underwriting, they don’t change our core thesis. Diversification is a key a part of our technique to make sure portfolio resilience, and India continues to be an necessary geography for us.
Are you able to elaborate on how GIC is approaching AI investments in India? The place do you see probably the most instant alternatives?
Our framework divides the AI worth chain into three classes: enablers, monetizers, and adopters. Enablers embody corporations constructing the infrastructure wanted for AI, reminiscent of knowledge facilities and semiconductors. Monetizers are startups creating AI-native services. Adopters are massive firms integrating AI into their operations to drive productiveness and transformation.
Proper now, we’re most deeply invested in enablers throughout the globe, together with world partnerships in knowledge infrastructure. However in India, we’re largely invested in adopters by large- and mid-cap listed tech corporations, in addition to industrial and monetary corporations.
We take a bottom-up method with all our investments. Whereas there isn’t a devoted fund for AI investments in India, we’re invested in varied layers of the Indian AI ecosystem by each private and non-private fairness.
The Bridge Discussion board is GIC’s flagship initiative to foster synergies between AI startups and enormous world enterprises.
What position does the Bridge Discussion board play in supporting your AI technique in India?
The Bridge Discussion board is GIC’s flagship initiative to foster synergies between AI startups and enormous world enterprises. It’s held biennially in Silicon Valley—the final version was in Might 2025—and we’ve remodeled 500 curated introductions between founders and 250+ C-suite leaders from 20 international locations.
In 2023, we introduced the Bridge Discussion board to India for the primary time. It was a CTO-focused version, with participation from main Indian startups reminiscent of Flipkart, Razorpay, Zepto, Postman, and world gamers like Microsoft, Snowflake, Databricks, and Stripe.
We’re internet hosting the following India version in Mumbai later this yr, the place we intention to attach Indian tech founders with CIOs and CTOs of multinational firms. The objective is to assist Indian startups scale by promoting into world markets, whereas enabling MNCs to undertake cutting-edge AI applied sciences — creating industrial worth for all events, together with GIC.
India nonetheless lags behind the US and China in AI innovation. What’s your view on this hole, and the way can India catch up?
I see it as a journey. India, if in contrast with the US, is behind by way of maturity of the startup ecosystem and development. Nonetheless, we’re very optimistic about India’s long-term potential.
The expansion of the ecosystem is supported by the big pool of robust engineering expertise, a quickly rising digital financial system, and a supportive regulatory atmosphere that India has. We rent many contemporary graduates in our India workplaces and see first-hand the technical capabilities.
Whereas the AI startup ecosystem remains to be nascent, we consider the uncooked substances are in place. Our method is to deploy affected person capital and help confirmed, commercially viable startups as they scale.
The IndiaAI Mission and comparable authorities initiatives can present a robust push for AI adoption and digital infrastructure improvement.
What’s your view on India’s government-led initiatives such because the IndiaAI Mission? Do state partnerships have an effect on GIC’s funding focus?
The IndiaAI Mission and comparable authorities initiatives can present a robust push for AI adoption and digital infrastructure improvement. Authorities-backed initiatives can present validation for a way good a services or products is as they want sure markets to pilot and develop.
GIC’s focus, nevertheless, stays on industrial use circumstances. What issues to us is whether or not an organization has a stable enterprise mannequin, robust administration, and scalable know-how.
You have spoken about digitalization being a key driver. How important is that on your India portfolio?
Digitisation is a significant worth creator, particularly within the monetary sector, the place we have now been long-term buyers. GIC’s publicity to monetary providers in India is round $20 billion—this consists of banks, NBFCs, and insurance coverage corporations throughout private and non-private markets. We’ve been invested right here for the reason that early Nineties.
AI is now a key enabler in digitising monetary operations—from buyer onboarding and credit score scoring to fraud detection and operational effectivity.
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We additionally see robust potential for AI adoption in healthcare — in medical imaging evaluation, drug improvement, and scientific security testing. In provide chains and manufacturing, AI is getting used for predictive routing, high quality management, and course of optimization.
GIC is actively invested in Indian infrastructure, actual property, IT providers and manufacturing. AI adoption in these sectors will solely speed up and open up new funding alternatives.
How is GIC utilizing AI internally?
We’re present process a multi-year transformation to turn into an AI-enabled group ourselves. One standout challenge is the Digital Funding Committee (IC) Member — a platform that ingests funding memos, analyses them in about an hour, and generates reviews with probing questions, danger flags, and dialogue prompts.
This device is already in use by our actual property and glued revenue groups, and it attracts on many years of deal knowledge to simulate IC discussions and determine the blind spots. We are actually creating assorted AI personas — reminiscent of a danger supervisor — to additional improve decision-making.
This type of inside adoption helps us enhance effectivity and analytical rigour. It isn’t about changing individuals, however augmenting our capabilities with clever, agentic instruments.
And eventually, given the AI-driven disruptions, how do you suppose corporations, together with these in India, ought to put together?
We see AI as each a chance and a danger. It would create immense worth, however may also disrupt conventional enterprise fashions. Firms that embrace AI early will possible achieve a big aggressive edge, whereas those who resist could fall behind.
In India, corporations throughout sectors—from finance to pharma—have to proactively put money into AI adoption. At GIC, we’ll proceed supporting companies which can be positioning themselves to thrive on this new atmosphere.
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