IAN Group Welcomes Priyank Garg as Managing Partner of IAN Alpha Fund

IAN, the Indian seed and early-stage investment platform, welcomes Priyank Garg as Managing Partner of the IAN Alpha Fund, the second in the series of IAN Group’s funds. Priyank’s coming on board will strengthen the Fund’s top team and enable it to match and exceed its excellent track record of Fund 1 and the Angel Group.

An entrepreneur and active early stage investor, Priyank brings over 26 years of experience in the cleantech, manufacturing, healthtech, SaaS & technology sectors. A Stanford and IIT Delhi graduate, he brings cross border experience with Yahoo and has, over the last 15 years, invested in over 60 companies, across a variety of sectors, both in India and overseas.

Priyank co-founded IOTomation, a building IoT company in 2019. He is currently the President of the Delhi Chapter of ISHRAE (Indian Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers). As a TiE Charter Member, supports the Million Sparks Foundation and is deeply engaged with various startup / early stage platforms like NASSCOM Emerge, India Innovation Initiative, Samsung Innovation, Times of India Big Challenge jury, etc.

Embarking on this new journey, Priyank Garg, Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund, said, “I am delighted to join the IAN Group as part of the IAN Alpha Fund for the next stage of our journey. As an angel investor, I have been investing with IAN for 14 years across sectors and have really appreciated the depth of engagement, quality of portfolio founders, focus on governance and returns. Having tried many others, this is the only platform that puts health of the Indian startup eco-system at the heart of its work from the day of its founding to today. I look forward to progressing IAN’s focus on solving real problems of the world from India with tech, innovation and transformation, augmented with my passion and experience in Deeptech and Cleantech, and bring about India’s golden hour”

Speaking on the same, Saurabh Srivastava, Co-founder and Chairman, IAN, said, “We are delighted to welcome Priyank to the IAN Alpha Fund. He is well known in the seed / early stage investor ecosystem and we look forward to leveraging his business building experience for the Fund’s portfolio companies which, in turn, will enable high returns for our Investors.”

Ms. Padmaja Ruparel, Co-foounder IAN and Sr. Managing Partner IAN Alpha Fund, said, “We are truly excited to have Priyank join the IAN Alpha Fund. He brings decades of experience in building businesses in India and the US, in environment friendly spaces. With his deep engagement with the startup ecosystem, he will just add to the mentoring and market access that IAN brings to its portfolio companies, ensuring a far lower risk to investors."

IAN Alpha Fund

IAN Alpha Fund, a Rs. 1000 crores (US$125mn) SEBI registered, AIF Category II VC Fund, is the second Fund in IAN’s series of Funds. It is being built to leverage the portfolios of both IAN Angel Platform and IAN Fund I apart from investing in innovative startups solving real problems for India and the world, with sustainable business models enabling scale by leveraging technology . With the IAN Alpha Fund, IAN continues its legacy of building a portfolio of high quality companies by founders who not only understand the customer need but have leadership qualities to build complementary and high execution focused teams to build valuable businesses.

About IAN

Indian Angel Network is India’s first angel investor group, comprising renowned, successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs from across the world. With investors from 12 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 global locations. The platform is sector-agnostic and has funded innovative start-ups across 19 sectors in India and 7 other countries, thereby growing the global footprint of companies. IAN has been enabling excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investors for the last 14 years. Some of its marquee investee companies include Spinny, Box8, Uniphore Software Systems, WOW Momos, Consure Medical, FarEye, Propelld, Dhruva Space, WebEngage, and FarMart, amongst others.

Apart from the IAN’s angel investor network, the platform comprises BioAngels, India’s first sector-focused angel investor group, in partnership with BIRAC, an enterprise of the Department of Biotechnology. The IAN Group also includes the IAN Fund I, an INR 375 crore VC fund, and a Rs. 1,000 crores IAN Alpha Fund, to build the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from quality investors who provide funds, mentoring and global market access.

360 ONE Acquires Mumbai Angels; Announces Two New Funds with Them

 Angel Fund and Category 1 Venture Capital Fund to be launched.

360 ONE (earlier known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Management), one of the leading wealth and alternates-focused asset firms in India, recently completed the acquisition of controlling stake in Mumbai Angels, a premier platform for early-stage venture investments.

Mumbai Angels, one of the largest players in the early-stage investment space, will now be looking at a greater funnel of deals, with a deeper penetration in the early-stage startup pool. Through its strict filtration criteria, it will be able to offer a wider array of best-in-class deals to its investors. Dedicated to supporting and nurturing early-stage startups, and helping its investors to grow their wealth, the investment platform today also announced the launch of two new funds: Category 1 Venture Capital Fund - Angel Fund and Category 1 Venture Capital Fund. (VCF)

The Category 1 VCF - Angel Fund does not involve pooling, i.e. each investment is treated as a separate scheme. This fund offers unique flexibility to both investors as well as startups. While investors will have the freedom to invest in a larger number of select deals, while the startups will have a leaner cap table.

The second fund, Category 1 VCF, is aimed at those looking at investments over a wider portfolio, without getting into the nitty gritty of all participating startups. This fund will enable investors to participate in every deal on the platform.

"Mumbai Angels has built an enviable platform to tap quality companies at an early stage. We are glad to have a talented team on board led by Nandini Mansinghka, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai Angels. With this new set of offerings, we will be able to further provide clients some interesting investment opportunities at an early stage in companies, which have the potential to bring about disruptions in their respective industries," said Karan Bhagat, Founder, MD & CEO, 360 ONE.

Nandini Mansinghka

"We are thrilled to be a part of 360 ONE, and the launch of our two new funds will open a plethora of opportunities for new-age companies looking at capital and investors keen to ride the startup wave," said Nandini Mansinghka, Chief Executive Officer, Mumbai Angels. "Our investments are sector-agnostic, and our team has a proven track record of identifying and supporting promising early-stage companies, and we are confident that the Angel Fund and Category 1 VCF. Fund will provide valuable opportunities for investors to be a part of the success stories of young Indian start-ups," she added.

About Mumbai Angels:

Since its inception in 2006, Mumbai Angels Network has the reputation of helping many new-age innovative endeavours get off the ground successfully. The company is dedicated to making India's startup ecosystem more accessible to investors across the country and has previously sponsored multiple successful companies.

About 360 ONE

360 ONE, earlier known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Management is one of the leading wealth and alternates-focused asset management firms in India. 360 ONE has aggregate assets of more than INR 3,33,000 crores under management, as on September 30, 2022.

360 ONE is an embodiment of two words that are extremely important to the firm, ‘360’ represents the holistic view we take of the ‘ONE’ person whose interests are always first: Our Client. The new brand 360 ONE will help the company retain all the elements that make it unique, while also injecting vibrancy and freshness of a modern India. It not only captures the company’s ethos but will also resonate with a more diverse set of clients and prospects, including the next generation. 

360 ONE is one of the pioneers in the industry to bring about product innovations. The firm has won more than 125 awards of repute since its inception in 2008. With a 900+ team strength, 360 ONE is headquartered in Mumbai with a presence in 27 domestic and global locations.

We Founder Circle Launches Two Angel Funds – In India and in GIFT City

Angel Fund in India as ‘Invstt Trust’ with INR 400 Crore

Angel Fund in GIFT City as ‘We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund' with USD 60 Mn

We Founder Circle (WFC), an early-stage startup investment platform, which includes a global community of successful founders and strategic angels has launched Invstt Trust (“Fund”), an AIF registered with SEBI as an Angel Fund, to empower early-stage startup investments in India. The target size of the Fund shall be an amount of up to ₹200 crores with a green shoe option of up to ₹200 crores, thereby totaling to ₹400 crores.

WFC has also launched the We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund in GIFT City. We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund is a cross-border fund targeting investors from across the globe. The fund size is $30M with a green shoe option of $30M and a term of 7 years with an option to extend by an additional 2 years. We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund is also a sector-agnostic fund that will enable world investors to participate in opportunities all over the globe.

While the Fund is sector-agnostic, it will predominantly look to invest in Portfolio Entities across various sectors such as Financial Services, Deep Tech, Financial Technology, EV, Content Gaming, Industrial Tech, Retail Tech, Ed Tech, Supply Chain, AgriTech, Consumer/D2C, Manufacturing, and others (Logistics, Healthcare, Technology, Agri-Allied sectors, etc.)

“2021 saw 42 startups turning into unicorns and furnishing handsome results for their early-stage investors. This has lured many HNIs to turn to angel investments; however, the trend is still pretty nascent and requires streamlining alongside the right guidance for founders and investors. Therefore, we have envisaged this fund to catalyze the process from both sides - angel investors and early-stage startups. Two to three years back, it was about mentoring and incubating startups. Now the requirement has arisen wherein it is also about strengthening the flow of capital, streamlining it for HNIs to encourage the plus results, and bridging the gap between angel investors and startups. Besides capital access, fund also provides networking and mentorship support to startups with tech expertise and global business connections.” said Mr. Gaurav VK Singhvi, Managing Partner of Investment Manager (We Founder Circle Angel Accelerator LLP) of both the Fund.

Though it might be fluctuating for late-stage inflows, for early-stage startups the average deal size has not been impacted much, which highlights the rising interest of potential angel investors in startup investments as asset-class financial instruments. In line with the same, Funds will be investing in startups raising Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A rounds.

“This Funds are a natural extension of our endeavor to include more startups & investors into the mainstream of the ecosystem. We have been building both sides of the community & this fund will enable the growing number of angel investors to invest in a regulatory & compliance-based framework. We expect to bring in more than 1000 angel investors to invest in 200 startups in the next 24 months,” said Neeraj Tyagi, Co-Founder & CEO, We Founder Circle.

In the past 23 months, We Founder Circle has invested in 70+ startups at their early stage and mentored them through various initiatives. Funds will help founders set for the next round of growth. The launch of Funds is in line with WFC's ambition to empower 500 startups in 5 years.

About We Founder Circle

Established in October 2020 in Mumbai, We Founder Circle is a global community of successful founders & strategic angels that have come together to push the startup industry and steer it toward aggressive growth. WFC invests USD 50K- USD 2 million in early-stage startups fueled by ambition, sustainability, and a strategic approach. WFC provides seed funding, business development, and global networking opportunities to startups as it believes early-stage startups need more than just financial support to become scalable and stable. It has already enabled USD 12 million to USD 15 million worth of investments across 33 startup deals in 2021 alone. That has risen to 72 startups since incorporation.

Early-Stage Venture Capital Firm, Auxano Capital Announces Launch of a $25 Mn Category 1 (Angel Fund)

The fund is raising capital through its network of HNIs, UHNIs and Family Offices

Auxano Capital aims to achieve its first close of the fund by the end of this quarter

The fund has an investing thesis and an allocation strategy based on two criteria- Business Classification and Stage of the Business

Auxano Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, is raising a $25 million fund to empower startups to achieve their true growth potential and enable HNIs to participate in ‘The Indian Unicorn Story’. The VC firm is raising this fund pool through its network of HNIs, UHNIs and Family Offices.

Auxano Capital is a sector agnostic Venture Capital firm & with its fund ‘Auxano Entrepreneur Trust’ it is looking actively to invest in the emerging mega trends across Fintech, Enterprise SaaS, Sustainable Mobility & Agritech. It plans to utilize the latest stream of funds in line with the investment thesis and allocation strategy based on two criteria- Business Classification (Category Creator, Market Creator & Market Owner) and Stage of the Business (Seed, Pre-Series & Series A/B). The company aims to achieve the fund's first close by the end of this quarter and has been proceeding accordingly.

Commenting on the funding, Brijesh Damodaran, Co-founder & Chief Investment Officer at Auxano Capital, said, "At Auxano Capital, we have been investing in early-stage startups since 2016. Auxano’s Investment Thesis primarily revolves around Investing in next gen technology led & consumer focused businesses driven by the subscription economy. As a principal, we give importance to a thorough Due Diligence at the time of investing and continue to monitor and provide business support across the investment journey. In the past we have displayed our process orientation in selecting quality businesses to invest in and have shown results in terms of growth of our portfolio companies to the participating investors leading to a positive word-of-mouth marketing. With this new set of funds, we have a deployment period of 18 months and we aim to drive growth of the budding entrepreneurs & companies in every stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Presently, we are also in the process of finalizing the right set of partners for the fund who we would be keen to onboard with us on this exciting journey."

The homegrown VC company was established to foster entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth. It has invested in 20+ startups, a corpus more than $7.5 Million through SPVs and its Fund.

With the growing acceptance of the startup space and rising investment opportunities, it has also launched Auxano Dawn Fund (Cat 2 AIF) with an additional corpus of ~$25 million, which is proposed to be deployed over the next 30 months.

About Auxano Capital

Auxano Capital is an early stage venture capital firm that strategically invests in early to growth-stage businesses with a sector-agnostic approach. Auxano was incorporated as a Venture Capital ( VC) firm in 2016. The Gurugram-based firm is the brainchild of experienced investment professionals, Brijesh Damodaran and Ashish Padiyar. They named the venture 'Auxano' as it signifies 'to initiate growth' in Greek mythology.

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.