Kunal Shah of FreeCharge biggest angel investor in 2016

Angel investors keep purse strings tight; top 10 put money in only 60 deals versus 209 last year

Top 10 corporate leader-turned-angel investors, including Anupam Mittal, Ratan Tata and Mohandas Pai, tightened the strings of their investment purses this year, putting their money in only 60 deals.

Last year, the top 10 investors in the country had put their money in 209 deals, according to the data compiled by VCCEdge based on deals disclosed.

This year, Kunal Shah, co-founder of digi-wallet FreeCharge, was on the top of the list. Tata Sons Interim Chairman Ratan Tata was second — but his 17 deals were worth the highest ($0.63 million, or Rs 4.3 crore). Shah’s 19 deals were worth a total of $0.15 million, or Rs 1.02 crore.

 

Some of those who were on the list last year were missing this year. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal did not make the list; last year, they were among the top five, in terms of the number of deals (21 each) they had done. This year, they managed only three deals, worth $0.05 million (Rs 34 lakh) each.

Emails sent to the investors went unanswered. 

Data collated by VCCircle showed People’s Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Anupam Mittal was third on the list. He clinched 16 deals, worth $0.04 million, or Rs 27.2 lakh. In 2015, he had 31 deals and investments of $0.46 million, or Rs 3.12 crore.
 

Manipal Global Education Services Chairman and former Infosys Director T V Mohandas Pai, number four on the list, had 12 deals, with an investment of $0.02 million, or Rs 13.6 lakh. Last year, he was in the second spot, with 27 deals and investments worth $2.79 million (Rs 18.97 crore). 

Investors continued to bet on information technology as a first choice. Other sectors that found favour were consumer discretionary, health care, logistics and financial services.

Experts, however, said the nature of investments this year were different from last year. In 2015, angel investors were tracking the early-stage venture investors in their decisions. 

“This year, people were looking more at technology-oriented businesses, such as machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence,” said Sanjeev Krishan, leader, private equity and transactions services, PricewaterhouseCoopers India.

Sanjeev Krishan, leader, private equity and transactions services, PricewaterhouseCoopers India said, “From an angel investor’s standpoint, funding consumer internet space has not been significant this year. That is why, when the deal values have come down, the deal volumes have not come down that much.”