Wipro invests almost a quarter of corporate venture fund in nine start-ups over two years

Over the past two years, Indian IT major Wipro has deployed around a quarter of its $100 million corporate venture capital fund in nine startups, it disclosed in its annual filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

This contribution stands far higher than what rival Infosys did out of the similar fund it has.

"Currently we hold 9 such investments with a cumulative spend of $ 24.5 million in startups working in big data and analytics, AI, IoT, mobility, supplier collaboration platform, fintech and security -technologies that are reshaping the future of enterprises," said Wipro said in its 20-F filing to US SEC.

In comparison, Infosys has spent about $45 million from its $500 million fund, while also has uncalled capital commitments of $18 million, as disclosed in its annual report.

The reason why Wipro has been investing in start-ups with hopes to win deals and lift it out of growth doldrums.

Since Wipro has been seeing lukewarm results lately, it also held back profit commission from Chairman Azim Premji, the only executive eligible for such a commission structure.

In last fiscal, Premji earned a little over $108,000, down by more than 60% as compared to the previous financial year.

As per the filing, Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala drew a little over $2 million in FY17, constituting of $800,000 in salary and allowance, variable pay of $150,244 and other compensation of $1.1million, along with over $9000 in deferred benefits.