Band of Angels to debut in Bangalore

Band of Angels, a group of angel (early stage) investors from Silicon Valley, is set to debut in Bangalore.

All budding entrepreuners who are seeking to give shape to their ideas can hope to kickstart their ventures with the much needed seed investment and strategic direction.

The Band of Angels is Silicon Valley's oldest organisation dedicated exclusively to funding and advising seed stage startups. The Band is a formal group of more than 100 former and current high tech executives who are interested in investing their time and money in cutting edge startups.

Band members have founded companies such as Symantec, Logitech and National Semiconductor and been senior executives at the likes of Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and Intuit.

The Band meets monthly to formally consider three startups selected from among the more than 50 that are screened each month by the Band Deal Selection Process.

Entrepreneurs can expect a thorough examination and, occasionally, an investment from some of Silicon Valley's most accomplished entrepreneurs.

It is likely that 25 angels from this Band, mostly successful Indian entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, are expected to be in Bangalore during next month in an effort to nurture ideas.

"There is immense venture capital funds chasing good companies, but there is arguably a dearth of seed funds for an idea to germinate. Entrepreneurs can meet these angels during the forthcoming event and get strategic suggestions and also possible funding," said an industry official.

The Band of Angels till date has funded around 170 start-ups totalling upto $120 million with each investment ranging from $300,000 to around $2.5 million.

Besides these angels investing, the Band of Angels also manages a $50 million venture fund comprising exclusively of institutional partners who include three corporations, two university endowments, and a large pension fund.

Speaking about the importance than angel investors can play in shaping a start-up, Rajendra Mishra, a serial entrepreneur who was involved with successful ventures such as Traveljini and Tenet, said: "When an entrepreuner germinates his idea, it is important that the idea be combed fine with expertise. Someone should be the devil's advocate and it is here that an angel with good expertise should be seeding the investment. It is pretty easy to get some money from any trader nowadays but they will not add any value to the venture."