Indian Angel Network announces maiden fund of Rs 350 cr

Company, co-investors plan to invest around Rs 1,500 crore in the next four years

Indian Angel Network (IAN) on Wednesday announced that it has raised Rs 350 crore, the highest fund raised by any network under the Angel Group across the globe so far, claimed 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 start-ups alike. As a result, we expect and welcome other investors and startups to follow and build upon the path that we’ve pioneered.”

An initial funding of Rs 175 crore will be released to the network with industry veterans including Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder and ex-CEO of Infosys, Sunil Munjal, Joint Managing Director of HERO Corp and Dr Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman at Narayan Hrudalaya being a part of the advisory committee. 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) registered an early-stage venture fund that will focus on investing in new-age disruptive technologies and businesses across a broad range of sectors including, healthcare and medical devices, SaaS, marketplaces, financial technology, big data, AI and hardware, maintaining IAN’s stance of being sector-agnostic, said the Network.

The fund will support all of IAN's deals apart from co-investing in other venture capital investments. 

Apart from the three co-founders of IAN- Saurabh Srivastava, Padmaja Ruparel and Raman Roy- the investment committee will comprise renowned entrepreneurs including, Harish Mehta, Alok Mittal, Rakesh Malhotra and Rakesh Rewari.

The network is spread across 7 locations across the globe and offers membership to 450 marquee entrepreneurs and CEOs.  

The fund is likely to help the network enhance its assistance capacity for entrepreneurs by making investments ranging between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 30 crore. The fund is also likely to improve early stage investments in India. 

“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.

Together, IAN and the IAN Fund (plus co-investors), would invest around Rs 1,500 crore in 160 odd companies over the next four years, making IAN the largest early stage investing platform, capable of writing cheques from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 Crore.

IAN will help raise the bar of investments made by the Angel Group 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 and better exits. It will also help in creating a platform with high-quality leads and increase liquidity in the ecosystem, especially when the investment sentiment is low.