In line with its continuous endeavor to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship across geographies, Indian Angel Network (IAN) today became the first Angel Group globally to raise a ₹350 Crores fund, thereby, becomes the pioneer in the angel community. The fund which marked its first close at ₹175 Crores has industry stalwarts like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder, ex-CEO, Infosys, Global Leader in IT Services, Sunil Munjal, Jt Managing Director, HERO Corp and Dr. Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Narayan Hrudalaya as part of its advisory committee.
The SEBI registered early-stage venture fund will focus on investing in new-age disruptive technologies and businesses across a broad range of sectors including healthcare and medical devices, SaaS, marketplaces, fintech, big data, AI and hardware, maintaining IAN’s stance of being sector-agnostic. The Fund will support all the IAN deals as well as independently co-invest with other VCs. The investment committee will comprise renowned leaders including Saurabh Srivastava: Serial Entrepreneur, Co-founder/Past Chairman NASSCOM and co-founder IAN, Padmaja Ruparel: Co-founder & President at IAN, Ajai Chowdhry: Co-Founder, HCL, Raman Roy: Chairman NASSCOM, Founder QUATTRO, & Co founder IAN, Harish Mehta: Founder Onward Group, Co-founder, NASSCOM, Alok Mittal: ex-Canaan MD and entrepreneur, Co-Founder IAN Rakesh Malhotra: Entrepreneur, Founder Luminous and Rakesh Rewari: ex DMD, SIDBI, Govt of India.
“IAN is India’s first now arguably the world’s largest angel group. It has revolutionized this space with its own unique model spanning 7 locations in India and overseas and a global membership comprising 450 of the who’s who of marquee entrepreneurs/CEOs. The logical next step is to create country’s largest horizontal platform in India for early stage investments. With this fund IAN is upping the game, supporting entrepreneurs from Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 30 Cr, co investing with other VCs. Our goal is to distribute money as efficiently as possible to get innovators through the most challenging early stages of funding. I am confident that the fund will have a significant role in creating high-growth companies in our country.” Said Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman and Co-Founder at IAN.
Padmaja Ruparel, President at IAN commented , “We’re excited to be the first angel network group to introduce an early stage fund of this stature. We see this as a marquee turning point for the angel investment segment and the way startups raise capital. We believe this structure is superior for investors and startups alike. As a result, we expect and welcome other investors and startups to follow and build upon the path that we’ve pioneered.”
Together, IAN and the IAN Fund (plus co-investors), would invest approx. Rs 1,500 Cr in 160 odd companies over the next 4 years, making IAN the largest early stage investing platform, capable of writing cheques from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 Crore.
Indian Angel Network will help raise the bar of angel investment in India, yet again, by launching a Fund which will:
- Make businesses more lucrative, profitable, and risky at seed-stage, thereby increasing the probabilities of higher returns/better exits
- Will create the incentivization to make IAN the platform with the most high quality leads
- Increase the liquidity in the ecosystem when the investment sentiment is low
- Fill the gap created between angel round and pre Series A Opportunities - Rs. 6 crores to 25 crores, building better propositions for the VCs
- Help build strong links with VC ecosystem, helping in financing next rounds / exits & also VCs referring angel level deals to IAN
IAN brings the best in breed investor table, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. They not only invest in innovative startups but also provide valuable inputs on strategy, in addition to providing access to their vast global networks. IAN also became the world’s first angel investor group to establish operations outside of its home country, when it started operating in London.
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