 "Tracxn launches platform to help angels liquidate investments in startups")
Ratan Tata-backed startup data aggregator and research firm Tracxn has launched a platform to make it easier for angel investors to sell their stake in mature startup companies by connecting them with venture capitalists and other institutional investors.
The online platform called TracxnSecondary is aimed at improving the liquidity in the Indian startup ecosystem by allowing early-stage investors cash in their investments in startups before they go public or get acquired.
"We see a lot of demand. Angels contribute to a decent amount of investment we see across these bigger startup companies, and once these companies are mature, we see a lot of demand from institutional investors who're willing to back them," said Neha Singh, CEO and co-founder of Tracxn.
Tracxn, which works with a lot of investors from the US and Southeast Asia says that there a multitude of them willing to back startups in developing markets, but often aren't willing to participate in series investments due to their massive ticket size.
“We work closely with more than 200 funds globally. There is a huge interest in investing in startups from emerging markets, and in buying secondary stocks,” said Abhishek Goyal, co-founder of Tracxn, said in a statement.
In time, the firm also hopes the platform will be used by startup employees to sell their stock prior to an IPO to institutional investors who are not looking to put in a huge amount of money. Singh added that this will take time as the company needs to partner with companies in order to make this possible and will do so once it is able to aggregate a sufficient base of secondary investments.
Tracxn, which was initially backed by Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, recently also raised funding from former UID chairman Nandan Nilekani, Manipal Group's Mohandas Pai and Whatsapp co-founder Neeraj Arora.