VC Firm Agility Ventures to Hold A Year-long Roadshow Across the Country

Angel investors and members will attend the live pitch sessions during the roadshow in major cities

Agility Ventures, an investor-centric venture capital firm, has announced a year-long roadshow - Agility Ventures Roadshow. The firm will travel to two different cities across the country every month. The event is aimed to provide an excellent opportunity for startups in their early stages and sector-agnostic.

The roadshow will commence with a programme and celebration on June 11th, 2022 at the Hyatt Hotel, Chandigarh, in partnership with Chitkara University. It will include stops in major cities, including Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kochi, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad among others.

Giving details about the event, Prashant Narang, Founder of Agility Ventures, stated “Thousands of early-stage companies across the country are not only looking for funding, but also the right expertise to help them scale. We aim to provide an opportunity for early-stage startups to interact with investors and pitch their businesses through the Agility Ventures Roadshow.”

During the roadshow, there will also be panel discussions and networking opportunities for startups. Commenting on the same, Dhianu Das, Co-founder of Agility Ventures, said, “We aspire to be a major catalyst and driver in creating a robust and vibrant early-stage startup investing ecosystem in India. And the Agility Ventures Roadshow is an excellent opportunity for startups to gain additional insight through panel discussions and interactions with investors.”

Agility Ventures’ is a global network spread across 25 chapters in India, Canada, UAE, Australia, and the UK as well.

Agility Ventures is a start-up investing platform that shares a passion for nurturing and investing in early-stage businesses and technology that are transforming the supply chain. It provides money, mentoring and market access to them.

Spearheaded by angel investors and mentors, Dhianu Das and Prashant Narang, the company seeks to be a major catalyst and driver in creating a robust and vibrant early-stage startup investing eco-system in India. It provides an end-to-end journey to its investors by discovering startups, evaluating startups, facilitating investments and planning exits in startups in the most seamless way.

Agility Ventures, which received approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) for an angel fund with a total corpus being INR 450 crore recently, aspires to be the largest player in the start-up investing eco-system. In 2022, they have set a target of increasing their network by 4000, which currently stands at 1500+ angel investors.

Agility Ventures’ is a global network spread across 25 chapters in India, Canada, UAE, Australia and the UK as well.

Food Startup Spice Story Raises a Pre-series A Round From Agility Ventures and Others

The Founding Team of Spice Story

Funds will help build distribution network and scalability of the business

The brand is marching towards crossing 1.5 million units sales by next year

Spice Story, a Mumbai-based food startup firm, that sells online Indian chutneys & sauce in modern forms,  has raised an undisclosed pre-series A round fund from Agility Ventures, Maxar.vc, Nafa capital and select FMCG industry leaders viz. Anupam Bokey, Anand Dhodapkar, etc.

The capital raised will primarily be used to bolster the distribution network and continue to build scale on the online platforms.

Earlier, the brand had raised a seed round in January 2021. Since then, the company has grown 3X and wants to grow 25X in the next 3 years. 

Prashant Narang, Co-founder, Agility Ventures, said “we are excited to support Spice Story in the next chapter of their journey. When we consider potential food industry investments, we look for brands that can connect with the diet habits of its consumers. We are optimistic that Spice story will continue to generate great traction with the variety of their products.”

(L-R) Soumyadeep Mukherjee & Gayatri Gogate from Spice Story

This year, the brand has already crossed the sale of half a million units and is marching towards breaching 1.5 million units by the next fiscal year.

“We are humbled that our investors believe in our journey of retaining the legacy of chutneys in every Indian household. With the new funding, Spice Story will be well-positioned to bring the joy of chutney in every Indian home.” said, Soumyadeep Mukherjee, Founder & CEO, Spice Story.

Spice Story’s strength is its omnichannel play. While eCommerce remains the primary focus, the brand already has a foot in the doors of some of the largest retail chains in India, which adds strength to their growth and build-up goals.

“We believe that Chutneys are little flavor packets that add that zing to all our meals. Through Spice Story, our goal is to nurture the emotional bonds that our consumers share with their food. With convenient access to our entire range of products, our consumers will be able to enjoy the authentic taste of various cultures and regions of India, all in an innovative and easy form.” Mukherjee added.

Agility Ventures To Launch SEBI Approved INR 450 Crore Angel Fund

The angel fund will invest INR 75 crore in over 50 startups this year

The year has begun on a promising note for Agility Ventures. One of the leading angel investor networks in the country, the company has received approvals from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) for an angel fund with a total corpus of the angel fund is INR 450 crore (USD 60 Million), Agility Ventures is looking to deploy the entire corpus in the next 3-4years.

The past two months have seen numerous angel investor networks applying to SEBI for AIFs (Alternative Investment Funds) to not just invest in the same ecosystem, but also get tax relief for angel investors while complying with the regulations. The Agility Ventures network, which is known to invest in startups or early-stage businesses in industries such as education, technology, healthcare, e-commerce, automobiles, electric vehicles, robotics, agri-tech and manufacturing among others, has seen record numbers of angel investors join the network last year. For 2022, they have set a target of increasing their network by 4000, which currently stands at 1500+ angel investors. With the AIFs, they are looking at deploying INR 75 crore this year in over 50 startups, which will also include fintech, cyber security and crypto.

Dhianu Das

Dhianu Das, Co-Founder, Agility Ventures, says, “SEBI’s approval to launch the fund is just the kind of start we were looking for in this New Year. After launching Fluid Ventures (a D2C focused SEBI-registered category-1 VC fund) last year, this is exactly the kind of fuel needed to roll-out our plans for 2022. After having invested in 5 companies through Fluid Ventures, we are not only ambitious about deploying INR 75 crore this year through Agility Ventures angel fund and investing it in over 50 startups but also very focused on achieving it. We are here to create more than just a ripple in the startup investment space and the angel fund will help us reach that goal.”

Prashsant Narang

 
Seconding him, Prashant Narang, Co-Founder, Agility Ventures adds, “The interesting thing about raising the kind of angel fund that has been approved by SEBI is that it is sector-agnostic and does not limit itself to co-investments. This model also simplifies the financing process without changing the core style of the angel network. In fact, it adds to the pre-existing angel investor’s style of financing, which usually entails Bridge rounds to pre-series A rounds.”

Agility Ventures is a global network spread across 25 chapters in India, Canada, UAE, Australia and the UK as well. With a legal entity registered in America, they are also setting up a UAE-based team in February.

Agility Ventures Eye 4000 Angel Investors in 2022

(L-R) Dhianu Das and Prashant Narang, Co-Founders, Agility Ventures

Rs 50 crore earmarked for investments in segments like fintech, cyber security and crypto startups among others; they also plan to support new angels, especially women who are taking to this form of investment in a big way

As 2021 draws to an end, Agility Ventures has already chalked up its plans for 2022. One of the leading Angel Investors Networks in the country, the company has set a target of increasing its network by 4000, which currently has 1500+ angel investors.

The network is known to invest in startups or early-stage businesses like education, technology, healthcare, e-commerce, automobiles, electric vehicles, robotics, agri-tech and manufacturing among others. This year, it invested in 22-plus technology and D2C startups. It now plans to add startups in fintech, cyber security and crypto to their list of investments in the upcoming year. “Increase in internet users and access to information has opened doors for a lot of blockchain, fintech and cybersecurity startups to set up shop here. If this year has shown us anything, it is that India is home to brilliant minds working on brilliant solutions and Agility is here for them,” says Dhianu Das, Co-founder, Agility Ventures.

The fund earmarked for investing in startups, through the Angel Network, is Rs 50 crore.

2021 has seen a record level of tech startups turn into unicorns, which in turn has also attracted a record number of investors, including super angels. With startups proving to be an alternative investment choice, the numbers of angel investors have reportedly gone up 5-times this year. People from all walks of life are turning angels, including women who have also taken to the startup investment. Taking this into account, Agility Ventures is also looking forward to supporting these new angels with their weekly calls, Ask Agility.

"We look forward to welcoming new investors to this asset class and to welcoming global startups to be part of the Agility umbrella. We are hopeful that 2022 will be yet another year full of gainful exits and of Indian unicorns,” adds Prashant Narang, Co-Founder, Agility Ventures.

Apart from investments and targets, Agility Ventures' calendar also includes multiple events such as VC gatherings and a founder mixer. The network is spread across 20+ chapters in India, Canada, UAE, Australia, and the UK as well. Setting up a UAE-based team in February 2022 is one of the first steps in that direction.