An angel investor is an individual who is regarded as one having a high net-worth and who provides financial backing and support to small start-ups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity in the company. Financial support and guidance provided by such individuals are supplemented with the provision of their expertise relating to skills such as networking, identifying talent, risk-taking, etc. to stimulate the growth of newly established enterprises. They encompass the appropriate mindset, experience, and understanding of the Indian start-up ecosystem into one invaluable asset.
The challenge of fundraising for start-ups is extremely rigorous and primarily warrants for the fact that 90% of them fail in India. Angel investors aim to diminish the prospects of such failure as evident from the fact that recently, an increasing number of entrepreneurs have successfully been able to exit their start-ups and have adopted the practice of angel investment to provide an impetus to budding entrepreneurs. Such prominent Indian investors are mentioned below-
1. Sanjay Mehta
“I’m not addicted to funding startups. I’m addicted to working closely with entrepreneurs.”
This statement mentioned by Mehta in his LinkedIn profile clearly defines him as an angel investor. He has ‘angel invested’ in 103 start-up companies in diverse sectors of the market and is an active member of Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures & CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery. He has also been a part of Mehta Ventures Family office and a director at CORE (Centre of Recognition and Excellence).
Mehta recently launched 100X.VC, an early-stage venture fund that aims to fund start-ups based on criteria such as founding team, market size opportunity, business model strength, unfair advantage, etc. Before establishing an investment firm, he was the founder of MAIA Intelligence, a business intelligence, and analytics company.
One of his most successful investments remains that of the company OYO, where he got 280 times the returns at the time of exit. He is one of the most prolific angel investors in the country and seems to have a considerate and understanding relationship with his mentees.
2. VC Karthic
The founder of Buzzworks, a contracted payroll and contact centre technology services platform, VC Karthic is a serial entrepreneur. A thinker and a man of answers, he aims to solve difficult problems at scale using technology.
His so-called ‘investment criteria’ includes the involvement of innovative technology, good market opportunity, and a high degree of commitment and integrity of the founders of the start-up.
3. Sachin Tagra
Sachin Tagra is an investment professional with almost 19 years of experience. He is currently leading Capital18, a media and venture investing division of Network18/TV18 group. His investments have shown an affinity for a data-driven and analytic approach to understand and drive consumer behaviour.
4. Binny Bansal
Anandan is the Managing Director of Sequoia Capital and has worked with numerous technology giants like McKinsey, Dell, Microsoft, and Google. His mastery over the technology landscape has enabled him to invest in more than 80 start-ups. Some of his significant investments include those in Dunzo, Unacademy, Capillary Technologies, and Lucideus.
6. Sunil Kalra
Shah, the co-founder of FreeCharge, sold FreeCharge to Snapdeal in 2015. In 2018, he returned to entrepreneurship with a members-only credit card payments platform named Cred. His key investments lie in firms such as Go-Jek, Zilingo, Unacademy, Razorpay, Rupeek, KhataBook, BharatPe, and Avail Finance.
10. Amit Ranjan
Co-founder of SlideShare Inc. Architect at National DigiLocker Project, Ranjan has invested across various sectors, including consumer internet, enterprise software, content, education, and logistics. He is a rare example of an Indian entrepreneur working with the government and is currently spearheading the National Digital Locker Project, which is building a national federated document network for the country’s citizens. He has invested in start-ups such as Lets Venture, Tracxn, Khatabook, Open Financial Technologies, Sheroes, and Lucideus Tech.
Angel investors play a vital role in the development of the economy by providing risk capital, which contributes to economic growth and technological advancements. They bridge the disconnect between the innovative and inexperienced, and the knowledgeable and experienced by mentoring and guiding the so-called ‘novices’ to tap into their potential.
Written By - Saumya Seth
Edited By - Sravanthi Cheerladinne
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