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Ahead of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword>’ annual shareholder meeting on Monday, the first non-founder chief executive officer, <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword> has highlighted some of the biggest achievements of the country’s second-largest software exporter during the past one year, in his blog. He also paid tribute to outgoing <keyword id="177384" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="non-executive-chairman">non-executive chairman</keyword> <keyword id="396965" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="KV-Kamath">KV Kamath</keyword>, according to an Economic Times report. Sikka spoke about some of the big bets Infosys has made, including what the company internally calls '<keyword id="2911637" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zero-Distance">Zero Distance</keyword>'. He said the company started the Zero Distance initiative as part of an internal push to infuse innovation into each of the company's existing client projects. The company currently has about 23,000 projects with customers. Twelve months after being named as the CEO of Infosys, Sikka said in the internal company blog on Sunday: "I write this onboard a beautiful <keyword id="71561" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Lufthansa">Lufthansa</keyword> <keyword id="999178" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Boeing-747-8">Boeing 747-8</keyword>, the latest incarnation of the magnificent plane that was born around the same time I was, and has evolved through these decades in a timeless manner. It makes me even more proud that a brilliant team of Infoscions helped design many key parts and systems of this amazing machine." He further said the company had made a five-point template internally to improve the quality of each customer project. Infosys has even formed Zero Distance groups on <keyword id="726756" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Yammer">Yammer</keyword> and on the company's intranet Sparsh. 

	"Then we rolled this template out to a 1000 projects and their leadership, and a few weeks later, to all our projects....Projects covering more than 68k delivery colleagues at Infosys, that is more than 70% of our delivery strength, are participating and more than 500 client conversations relating to the improvements and innovations in their projects have already happened," he said.
 

	The Infosys CEO said the company had so far trained over 35,000 employees in design thinking, of which more than 21,000 have been trained from the delivery organisation. The company has also conducted over three dozen design thinking workshops till date.
 The company has rolled out its Infosys Information Platform (IIP) to more than 100 customer projects. It is the company's flagship big data analytics platform and the platform's development is being overseen by platforms head <keyword id="1187683" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Abdul-Razack">Abdul Razack</keyword>, a key Sikka lieutenant. "Under Abdul and Samson's leadership, our work in IAP is already resulting in substantial savings due to automation in the routine, mechanizable areas like parts of infrastructure management. And we now have more than 100 commercial IIP engagements, including many that have already produced breakthrough results. <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword>'s adoption is underway, and is picking up steam. We've crossed 12 Panaya wins done by the Infosys CSG teams," Sikka said. 

	Meanwhile, Sikka paid tribute to Kamath and said new chairman R Seshasayee had "become a mentor" to him. "(KV Kamath) is an amazing man, a natural leader, a unique combination of spirituality and practicality, of great vision and dreams, and great execution and discipline. As happy as I am to see him lead this great new institution for humanity, I will really miss him," he said. 

	 
	(Image: Reuters)

Vishal Sikka talks about Infosys’ ups ahead of a crucial meet

India's second largest software exporter <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> would aim to return to industry-level growth rates by financial year 2017, if it manages to reach 10-12% <keyword id="6492838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="revenue-growth">revenue growth</keyword> forecast this year, said the company’s chief financial officer <keyword id="347003" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rajiv-Bansal">Rajiv Bansal</keyword>. 

	While attending an investor meet in Bengaluru on Thursday, Bansal said, the company would touch industry-level growth rates if it puts up a good show this year as compared to last year, when it grew at a meager 5.6%. 
 “When Mr Murthy came back (in 2013), we clearly said that we would take 3 years to get back to <keyword id="2896835" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="industry-level-growth-rate">industry-level growth rate</keyword> -- and that will be FY17," said Bansal. 

	"If 5.6% goes upto 10-12%, then next year we should see industry-level growth rates....I think we're on the right trajectory -- once we reach that 10-12% mark, I think it will give us a lot of confidence to touch industry-level growth rates," he added.
 Recently, Infosys has created a special team looking specifically at mergers and acquisitions, said UB Pravin Rao, the chief operating officer of the Bengaluru-headquartered IT firm. In 2014, Infosys hired former SAP executive <keyword id="2558261" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ritika-Suri">Ritika Suri</keyword> to lead <keyword id="101447" type="EVENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="MA">M&amp;A</keyword> for the company. 

	Moreover, Infosys expects acquisitions can bring in additional revenues of about $1.5 billion as the IT services behemoth aims to achieve a goal of generating $20 billion by 2020.
 

	"We have created a separate team looking at it -- a corporate development team looking at M&amp;A," said Rao.
 Ever since Suri joined Infosys, the company has pulled off two large acquisitions -- in January, it bought over Israel-based automation technology startup <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword> for $200 million, while in April, Infosys acquired eCommerce service provider <keyword id="2822352" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Skava">Skava</keyword> for $120 million. 

	Infosys would aim to keep margins in the 25-26% range for the near term, depending on currency fluctuations, said Bansal.

	 
	 
	(Image: Reuters)

Infosys sees industry-level growth in FY17, if it meets 10-12% revenue growth that is

India’s second largest software exporter <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> expects acquisitions can bring in additional revenues of about $1.5 billion as the IT services behemoth aims to achieve a goal of generating $20 billion by 2020. The company is also aiming to bring attrition levels down to the lowest in the industry in the same time frame. 
 

	These targets include increasing revenue per Full Time Equivalent to $80,000 by deploying automation and innovation in existing businesses and inorganic investment strategies influencing approximately $1.5 billion of new revenue, according to PTI. "The mission of our management is to prepare the company to achieve an aspirational goal of $20 billion in revenue by calendar year 2020 with at least 30% operating margin with specific targets," Infosys CEO <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword> said in the company's annual report. The IT firm has already acquired some companies in the past few months. It announced its first major acquisition in February under Sikka, who had taken over as CEO in August 2014, of New Jersey-based automation technology firm <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword> for $200 million. In April, Infosys made another large acquisition and bought <keyword id="2822310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kallidus">Kallidus</keyword> (also known as Skava) for $120 million. 
	 

	The Bengaluru-based company has been scouting for innovative companies in areas like automation and artificial intelligence. 

	The IT firm has already said it is open to 'bigger scale' mergers and acquisitions but with a caveat, it is not interested in "yesterdays" companies. 
	 

	Sikka said new services like design thinking, solutions in artificial intelligence and intellectual property-led businesses are expected to contribute at least 10% of Infosys' revenues. 
	 

	Infosys would also focus on building a vibrant ecosystem "from the ground up by investing in, incubating and growing innovative startups and companies that will help define the next generation of services and business models," he added. Once the bellwether of Indian <keyword id="6374576" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="IT-Industry">IT industry</keyword>, the company lagged behind its peers like <keyword id="6357585" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tata-Consultancy-Services">Tata Consultancy Services</keyword> and <keyword id="30331" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="HCL-Technologies">HCL Technologies</keyword> in terms of growth. 
	 

	Moreover, it also faced a series of senior level exits that the company has now capped with a series of measures like promotions and increments. 
	 

	The target would also be "bringing attrition levels down to the lowest in the industry and achieving at least 25% in diversity in our top leadership", Sikka said. 
	 

	On standalone basis, the attrition rate for fiscal 2015 stood at 18.9% compared with 18.7% in the previous fiscal. 
	 

	Infosys has over 1.76 lakh employees with the addition of 15,782 (net) people. Sikka also expressed confidence that the company can grow at 10-12% rate in the ongoing fiscal. 

	 
	(Image: Reuters)

Infosys is going to make an additional $1.5 billion in revenues via acquisitions

Earlier during the day, we told you how <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> is slowly yet steadily moving on a progressive path. And now, we have heard another big news about the software firm. It has acquired <keyword id="35621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="e-commerce">e-commerce</keyword> services provider <keyword id="2822352" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Skava">Skava</keyword> for $120 million. This is the second largest acquisition from Infosys this year; earlier the company had bought Israel-based automation solutions startup <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword> for $ 200 million. 
 
In a statement posted on their website, Infosys said it completed the acquisition of Kallidus Inc, which is the holding group behind Skava, and its affiliate on Thursday. 
 
"The acquisition is in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement announced on April 24, 2015. The acquisition of Skava is part of Infosys' strategy to help clients bring new digital experiences to their customers through IP-led technology offerings, new automation tools and unparalleled skill and expertise in these new emerging areas," Infosys said on its website. 
 Infosys chief <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword> has outlined plans and even formed a committee to aggressively pursue acquisitions as part of his vision to make Infosys a $20-billion company by 2020. Sikka wants acquisitions to generate at least $1.5 billion of annual revenue, as part of the strategy. And it seems, the company is headed in the right direction. 
 
(image credits: infotechlead.com)

Infosys has made its second largest acquisition of the year

India’s second largest software exporter Infosys has formed a special investment committee on its board to keep a watch on all new acquisitions and big investments of the company. <keyword id="6369763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vishal-Sikka">Vishal Sikka</keyword>, the CEO of the Bengaluru-headquartered IT MNC, is aggressively pursuing buyouts as the company wants to generate $20 billion of revenue by 2020. 
 Its rivals, both <keyword id="10862" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Wipro">Wipro</keyword> and <keyword id="6357585" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tata-Consultancy-Services">Tata Consultancy Services</keyword> (TCS), have a special committee to oversee decisions regarding strategy planning, capital expenditure programmes, acquisitions and investments. Roopa Kudva, new board member and managing director of <keyword id="211875" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Omidyar-Network">Omidyar Network</keyword>'s India operations, would chair the committee that comprises board veteran and former <keyword id="28250" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Microsoft-India">Microsoft India</keyword> chairman <keyword id="50299" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ravi-Venkatesan">Ravi Venkatesan</keyword> among other board members, two people familiar with the development told the Economic Times. 
	 

	"Infosys felt that creating a committee to oversee acquisitions was a necessity, given the company's more aggressive stance on acquisitions and investments under Sikka — this committee will be responsible for vetting and overseeing all decisions the company makes on acquisitions, along with the approval of the rest of the board," said one of them. 
	 

	Infosys declined to confirm whether such a committee had been formed. "We do not comment on rumours or speculation," a company spokeswoman said in an email response to ET. 
 

	Sikka has said that he wants acquisitions to generate at least $1.5 billion of that. According to the company's quarterly report, Infosys had cash and cash equivalents of about $5.2 billion as of March 31, 2015. Earlier, in an interview to ET, Sikka said that Infosys would be very aggressive in chasing buyouts. In February, days after the software company bought automation startup <keyword id="2728667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Panaya">Panaya</keyword> for about Rs 1,200 crore ($200 million), the first non-founder CEO of Infosys said, "We have a dozen targets we are looking at now." Infosys made another large acquisition and bought ecommerce services provider <keyword id="2822310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kallidus">Kallidus</keyword> (also known as Skava) for $120 million in April. "Anytime we see a company with talent, capabilities and IP in these areas (AI and collaboration technology) we would love to go for an acquisition," said Sikka, a former SAP board member. 
	 

	Both the Panaya and Skava acquisitions were vetted by the newly-formed investment committee on the Infosys board, said the two sources quoted above. 
	 

	The formation of this committee comes at a crucial juncture for Infosys, which is making big bets in newer areas of technology as part of Sikka's overall plan to turnaround the fortunes of the company and also when rivals such as TCS and Wipro are trying to make similar investments to gain a first-mover advantage in areas such as artificial intelligence and automation. Sandra Notardonato of <keyword id="6371981" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Gartner">Gartner</keyword> Research said, to achieve the compound annual rate of revenue growth of 18% implied by the $20 billion target, Infosys is counting on $1.5 billion in acquisitions, 10% contribution from new service areas and 15% internal growth. It’s worth noting that Infosys’ rival Wipro also has a committee that oversees decisions around acquisitions, among other things. Wipro's billionaire chairman <keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword>, CEO TK Kurien, board veterans <keyword id="2881183" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="William-Arthur-Owens">William Arthur Owens</keyword> and Jagdish Sheth, and former head of <keyword id="6528042" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Hewlett-Packard">Hewlett-Packard</keyword>'s printing business Vyomesh Joshi are currently part of this committee. Even Tata Consultancy Services has an executive committee that oversees decisions around capital expenditure programmes, acquisitions and investments. Members of the committee include TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran, <keyword id="6355725" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tata-Group">Tata Group</keyword> chairman <keyword id="6356895" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cyrus-Mistry">Cyrus Mistry</keyword>, former company veteran S Ramadorai, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen and board veteran Ron Sommer. 
	 
	(Image: Indiatimes)

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka creates a special panel to look into all acquisitions

The share price of Infosys fell by 16.2% a day after whistleblowers complaint on its top management turned public, on Tuesday (October 22). That’s a wealth erosion of about ₹53,000 crore (about $7 billion). It also hit a lower circuit and closed at ₹643 per share. This is due to a whistleblower complaint which alleged that the CEO and CFO top management put pressure on them to not recognise the reversal of $50 million on FDR contracts as it will slash profits. Two anonymous whistleblowers accused the CEO Salil Parekh and CFO Nilanjan Roy of concealing information from auditors and keeping large deal information from the board. But, investors seem to fear that this may only be the tip of the iceberg. And, this is not the first time that Infosys has been accused of ‘corporate governance’’ issues. In fact, the founder of the company and the promoter group has been vocal<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/infosys-promoters-including-murthy-nilekani-offer-shares-worth-rs-2038-crore-for-buyback/articleshow/60347494.cms?from=mdr"> of possible irregularities</a>, especially during the acquisition of Panaya for $200 million. This was of course, two years back. Ever since, the CEO Vishal Sikka and the CFO R Seshasayee have quit after blaming the founder Naranya Murthy of ‘personal attacks’ on them. The board too had been scrubbed clean and changed by one of its founders Nandan Nilekani but as it seems to be, the troubles are far from over. The severity of the fall in the share price today shows that investors are more worried about the standard of governance at one of India’s most famous home-grown companies that was once touted to be a benchmark in corporate governance. As per he whistleblower complaints, millions in reversals were not added into the accounts, to make profits ‘look good’. Amongst other things, whistleblowers said that Even without a possibly fake facelift, Infosys has been losing out to its competitors. A research report by Nomura has maintained its ‘neutral’ rating on the company preferring TCS over it. “We expect calendar year growth momentum to moderate in the second half below double digits as it should be seasonally weak with furloughs in the third quarter. Incrementally, outlook is weak in retail, and BFSI remains soft which is 50% of revenues combined), though performance and outlook on other verticals is strong,” the report said after Infosys declared its quarterly results. For a company which is growing slow, investigation and accusations will not help. Not during times of slowdown which it already has a lot of ground to cover. If more troubles come out of the Pandora’s box, Infosys will risk comparison to the likes of Satyam Computers which went down in 2009 after the promoter Ramalinga Raju tried to merge it with another infrastructure company he runs, failed and declared his role in a scandal that hit the credibility of entire India Inc.

Infosys lost $7 billion in share value due to $50 million whistleblower complaint-- showing that governance is bigger than money

IT major Infosys has instrumented a new plan to beat Trump's propaganda, according to news agency PTI. Infosys has been in favour of a healthy mix of local and global personnel even though hiring locals in overseas markets often pushes up operational costs for IT outsourcing companies. With the US mulling over various measures to make visa norms stricter under the <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword> administration, Indian IT firms have been contemplating tweaking their business models and accommodating more locals. "We are closely monitoring the overall situation with respect to visa... in the last 24 months, we have focused on increasing our presence in the US with a lot more local hiring," Infosys Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao told investors on a recent conference call. He added that at this stage, Infosys has not seen any "undue things" that will impact the way it does business. "In this year, we will continue that focus. We will accelerate it. We will also start looking at developments and training centres in the US as well," he said. Rao, however, did not talk about the investments Infosys will make on the expansion. The North American markaccounted for over 60 per cent of Infosys' USD 10.2 billion revenue in the 2016-17 fiscal. During his election campaign, US President Trump had promised stricter immigration laws and protection of local jobs. Besides, a legislation (Lofgren Bill) in the US was introduced that proposed doubling of the minimum wages of H-1B visa holders to USD 130,000. Most recently, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had come out with a policy memorandum that potentially makes it difficult for Indian technology professionals to work in the US at entry-level positions. Any change in visa norms can affect the movement of labour as well as spike operational costs for the IT players. Indian firms like <keyword id="6357150" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TCS">TCS</keyword>, Infosys and <keyword id="10862" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wipro">Wipro</keyword> that are dependent on visas are now focusing on bringing on board more locals to comply with the norms. Once considered an industry bellwether, Infosys has had its share of challenges over the past few years. Apart from competition from rivals like TCS and <keyword id="28721" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cognizant">Cognizant</keyword>, it is also facing a public spat between founders and the Board over allegations of corporate governance lapses. Under CEO Vishal Sikka, the company has been trying to turn things around. The former <keyword id="6358384" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SAP">SAP</keyword> executive has set up an ambitious target for Infosys reaching USD 20 billion revenue by 2020 with a strong focus on new technologies like automation and artificial intelligence. While Sikka himself has admitted that the goal is "aspirational", the company has continued to invest in start-ups working on these new-generation technologies. "...our FY17 revenues from new software and software- related services including Mana, Panaya, Skava and Edge grew at more than 42 per cent," Sikka said. He added that the company will report revenues on a quarterly basis from the new software and offerings such as digital, Internet of Things and cybersecurity from this fiscal onwards. The new services are also helping the company generate over USD 125,000 per year in revenue per employee.

Bad day for brain drain in India: Infosys to hire local talents in USA

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortWaze and FeeX co-founder Uri Levine</div></div></div>This summer, it's raining unicorns - tech startups valued at more than $1 billion - and as a result the Israeli tech scene is going absolutely crazy.Business Insider just spent a week in Israel meeting with over a dozen tech companies, and VCs. They all told us:Everyone is dreaming of becoming the next unicorn. Instead of selling their startups for $1 million to $30 million, founders are turning down multi-million acquisition offers wanting to build big companies.2015 is a record-breaker for VC funding. For the first half in 2015, 342 companies have attracted $2.1 billion, up from 334 companies nabbing $1.6 billion in the first half of 2014.The private equity bankers have arrived in droves, including Blackstone, SilverLake, KKR, Apax Partners, TPG, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, and they're writing writing huge checks.Chinese investors are swarming the country, joining Israeli VC funds as limited partners as well as doing a lot of huge, direct investments into startups, too. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Chris McGrath/Getty Images</div></div></div>"If we're going to do $4 billion in venture in 2015, the estimate I heard is that at least $500 million of that will be Chinese money, and that's direct investment not including the LP stuff," Israeli powerhouse VC Jon Medved told Business Insider. "And I think that's probably underestimated." Medved, founder of <a href="https://www.ourcrowd.com/">investment startup OurCrowd</a> and is widely known as one of the fathers of Israel's tech startup scene.Chinese investors are "at all the parties" a startup founder told us. The joke here is that Israeli border control needs to open up a special customs line "just for Chinese investors with bags of money that they can just get in the country for free," Medved quipped. This hot economy has led to ... <ul><li>Big well-funded Israeli companies starting to acquire other Israeli companies for big sums of money, too.</li><li>The first crop of Israeli serial entrepreneurs, such as Avigdor Willens, who sold Annapurna to Amazon earlier this year for a reported $350 to $375 million. Willens sold his first company, Galileo, for $2.7 billion in stock back in 2000 to Marvell Technologies.</li></ul><h2>It started when Google dropped a billion on Waze</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortIsraeli flags fly in Jerusalem</div></div></div>When Google bought Waze for $1 billion in 2013, it was a milestone event for the country, says Medved. "Billion-dollar companies are now all over the place. Waze was the first and most important," he told us. Waze co-founder Uri Levine explained to Business Insider, "This was the first time a billion-dollar app, and a consumer app, came out of Israel," and it set "a new beacon for Israel" telling entrepreneurs to aim higher than a quick exit.The next year, Japan's Rakuten (the eBay of Japan) acquired Israeli messaging app Viber for $900 million and unicorn fever in the country began.Over and over, startup founders told us they had no interest in selling their successful companies, some of which were doing millions of dollars in revenue, some of which were doing hundreds of millions in revenue. They wanted to grow their companies past $1 billion to many billions."Israel entrepreneurs are obsessed with building unicorns," Hillel Fuld, CMO of Israeli startup Zula told us.<h2> Billion dollar startups include …</h2><ul><li>Taboola (who raised $117 million in February, $157 million total)</li><li>IronSource (who raised $105 million in two rounds from private equity funds run by JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley),</li><li>Outbrain (who filed confidential SEC documents for an IPO at a reported $1 billion valuation)</li><li>Conduit, who said it was the first Israeli internet unicorn, in 2012</li></ul>There's also a new crop of public tech companies worth $1 billion:<ul><li>MobileEye: IPO'd in 2014, with $12 billion market cap today</li><li>CyberArk, also IPO'd in 2014, market cap of about $2 billion</li><li>Wix, IPO'd in 2013, market cap of about $900 million</li><li>And there's some half-unicorns, like Varonis Systems, which IPO'd in 2014 and has a market cap of nearly $600 million, nothing to sneeze at.</li></ul><h2>Asian money everywhere </h2> "The Asia stuff is very dramatic, very real and very new," says Medved."China is the big story. But Japan for example - there had never been a visit of a Japanese Prime Minister to Israel before. In all the years of Israel's existence, what did they have to come here for? This year, the Japanese Prime Minister shows up for four days, all tech." <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">OurCrowdOurCrowd founder, Jon Medved</div></div></div>Meanwhile, Korea's Samsung Ventures has now made "8 investments here over the last year," says Medved. Plus, "there are now Israeli companies going to list on the Singapore exchange."Israel will also be hosting the Indian Prime Minister for the first time. In February, Indian company Infosys (now run by SAP's former US CTO Vishal Sikka) bought Israeli company Panaya for $200 million. India has plans to build an R&amp;D center here. Still China overshadows them all. Investment are pouring in from Baidu, Fosun, Alibaba, Tencent, RenRen and others.Famous Chinese angel investor (and billionaire) Li Ka Shing and his Horizon Ventures fund are all over the country. Horizon was an early investor in Waze. And he's invested in about 29 Israeli startups, including Waze founder Levine's latest baby, FeeX, (raised $9 million).If there's a downside to all of this, its that Israel is starting to experience a severe talent shortage. They are now poaching each other's employees and trying to keep employees from leaving by offering better and better Valley-like perks.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortIronSource CEO and co-founder Tomer Bar Zeev and deputy CEO and co-founder Omer Kaplan</div></div></div>IronSource, for example, flies its 550 employees to one exotic offsite meeting every year. The whole company just got back from Greece. "Once a year, we party," CEO Tomer Bar Zeev told us. "That builds culture. It's one of the best investments we can make, investing in the company."If that fails, Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing has an answer. He also donated $130 million to Israel's Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology (like the MIT of Israel), one of the largest ever donations received by an Israeli university. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-firm-solar-power-energy-business-invention-2014-9">An Israeli Company Just Solved Solar Energy's Single Most Mystifying Problem</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1jbHlvcDqSkVm1c2NvsGYgno10q1fVAD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "Panaya" and got 8 results

Vishal Sikka talks about Infosys’ ups ahead of a crucial meet

BI India Bureau

Infosys sees industry-level growth in FY17, if it meets 10-12% revenue growth that is

BI India Bureau

Infosys is going to make an additional $1.5 billion in revenues via acquisitions

BI India Bureau

Infosys has made its second largest acquisition of the year

BI India Bureau

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka creates a special panel to look into all acquisitions

BI India Bureau

Infosys lost $7 billion in share value due to $50 million whistleblower complaint-- showing that governance is bigger than money

Katya Naidu

Bad day for brain drain in India: Infosys to hire local talents in USA

BI India Bureau

The startup scene in Israel is going bonkers, and the Chinese are swooping in

Julie Bort

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