IAN Partners with India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum for the 2nd India-Africa Entrepreneurship Summit

• The partnership will focus on building an India-Africa investment corridor which would enable startups in India and Africa to exchange resources, knowledge, and capital to grow
• India and Africa are partnering to strengthen their early-age startups by providing knowledge, funding, and market opportunities, thereby increasing trade and development between the two economies.

Indian Angel Network (IAN), India’s single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, is a Summit & Venture Partner for the 2nd India-Africa Entrepreneurship Summit scheduled in Nairobi, Kenya on 1st and 2nd July, 2022.

India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF), a first-of-its-kind, not-for-profit entity, that seeks to connect the entrepreneurial ecosystems of India and Africa is organizing the second edition of the summit in partnership with a consortium of investors. It aims to build bridges between Indian and African entrepreneurs, exploring opportunities and promoting entrepreneurial collaboration. The prominent investors from India and Africa come together to discuss and build an India-Africa investment corridor and tap opportunities.

India is home to over a hundred unicorns, and the second-largest startup ecosystem in the world with more than 65,000 startups recognized by DPIIT. On the other front, the African startup ecosystem is rapidly growing and has recently caught the attention of tech entrepreneurs and global venture capital funds-shifting their focus from “aiding” to “investing” in the continent; creating and sustaining several economic opportunities in the process.

"A high level of entrepreneurial energy and spirit is driving the Indian startup ecosystem and the collaboration between Indian-African entrepreneurship can increase the reach and impact of innovation and business growth. The partnership will only help businesses to scale and grow by leveraging the markets and investors of both India and Africa. We are delighted to bring investors & successful entrepreneurs to Nairobi," Ms. Padmaja Ruparel, co-founder, IAN & Founding Partner, IAN Fund said.

As one of the partners for the event, IAN is supporting IAEF in enabling several cross-border transactions between entrepreneurs, investors, and the government. The platform is envisioned as a go-to platform for entrepreneurs and investors actively involved in the startup space. It exists to harness the creative potential of entrepreneurs and the power of collaboration. IAEF will promote mutual learning and resources to enable startups to succeed amidst adversity and immature market conditions.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Baljinder Sharma, one of the founders of the event said, “It is a little known fact that many Indian entrepreneurs have partnered with African entrepreneurs to co-found successful Africa specific ventures. More recently, angel investors in India have shown interest in investing in Africa, even as angel investors from Africa have invested in India for instance. We are at an early phase of this new strategic partnership between India and Africa that is poised for rapid growth and lots need to be done to create awareness alone. I am pleased that entrepreneurs and Angel groups have taken up this important mission.”

IAN had previously partnered with India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF) for its first Event in Sept 2019, which was a runaway success, with participants from 23 countries in Africa. And for the second edition, the IAEF is inviting eminent entrepreneurs and investors to discuss the opportunities and challenges of investing in Africa. The potential Indian investors may see this Summit as an excellent opportunity to create joint ventures and partnerships. Similarly, the Global Investors in the African Entrepreneurial ecosystem are also optimistic about their investment in a rapidly evolving Indian ecosystem. For more information, please visit www.africa-india.org

Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 12 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 19 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor members, for the last 12 years. Some of its marquee investee companies include Druva, Spinny, Box8, Uniphore, WOW Momos, Consure, Fareye, NOCCARC, Propelld, Skit.ai amongst many others.

IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore VC fund is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund that aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech, and hardware. With this, IAN has created the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, enabling entrepreneurs to raise from INR 0.25 to 50 crores.

Telehealth Platform Truemeds Raises $5 Mn from InfoEdge, Asha impact and IAN Fund

The Fund raise will help Truemeds launch in new cities, further develop the technology and supply chain automation

Mumbai, June 9, 2021: Truemeds, India’s leading telehealth platform that helps chronic patients find best value alternate brands for medicines, closed its $5 million series A funding round led by InfoEdge, Asha Impact and Indian Angel Network(IAN). Existing investor, InfoEdge Fund, led the second consecutive funding round in Truemeds - showing their strong trust in the model and the team.

Since its seed round in May 2020, the company has witnessed a 40X growth in monthly orders, with over 50% orders resulting from word of mouth and organic discovery. According to the company, the current pandemic has made consumers not only more conscious of their health but also more aware of their rising healthcare costs, further accelerating the trend towards more affordable, high quality medical alternatives. With repeat usage of over 60% and 8 to 10 times annual purchase frequency, Truemeds is building a ‘subscription-like’ service for chronic patients.

The funding will be used to further expand its footprint to 3 additional cities, build product and technology and invest in improving the supply chain of generic medicines.

Commenting on the announcement Akshat Nayyar, CEO & Co-founder of Truemeds said --

Truemeds was founded with a mission to make medicine affordable for chronic patients. For us, it wasn’t just about providing best value alternate brands, it was about changing the paradigm of doctor-patient relationship. Covid 19 has shown the country how important it is to make medicines affordable and accessible. With this investment, we’ll be able to not only make the Truemeds experience even more seamless, but also bring access to affordable medicines to more people in different parts of India.

Amit Behl Partner at InfoEdge Ventures commented, “We have seen Akshat and Kunal execute extremely well throughout last year and demonstrate that their customers find the generics proposition appealing. With this new round, we continue our support for the Co as they build further on the proposition to deliver significant savings on healthcare expenses of consumers”

Aditi Gupta, Principal at Asha Impact said, “We are thrilled to back Akshat and Kunal in this category defining business. TrueMeds has seen tremendous growth in the last year which speaks to the increasing importance of reducing patient spends on medicines for majority of Indian households, and the growing trust that TrueMeds as a brand has started building with this customer base.”

“We were very excited by Akshat’s vision, passion and execution focus in building a fast growing business. Truemeds is creating a real impact for customers by enabling reduction of medicine costs and this resonated well with us. Trumeds disruptive model is now fast becoming the “normal” for customers, suppliers and pharma companies” said Rajnish Kapur, Managing Partner from IAN Fund.

About Truemeds

Truemeds is the first of its kind telehealth platform in India focused on recommending best value alternate brands to chronic patients. The Mumbai based startup provides free delivery of the suggested alternate brands to the patient’s home. On average, each Truemeds’ patient saves ~47% on their monthly medicine bills by using Truemeds’ proprietary recommendation engine and free consultation from their empaneled doctors. The startup was founded in 2019 by Akshat Nayyar and Dr Kunal Wani. With combined experience of over 20 years in the Indian pharmaceutical sector, the founders realized that despite 95% medicines in India being off-patent, most patients are unaware/unsure about the choices they have in brand selection based on their price range. Truemeds leverages its intelligent medicine recommendation engine to help patients find the highest quality alternative medicines from the top 1% medicine manufacturers in India and provides free doctor consultations to help patients make the right decisions for themselves.

About IAN

Indian Angel Network (IAN) is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 12 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 17 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor-members, for the last 11 years. Some of its marquee investee companies include Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure, Fareye amongst many others.

IAN has also launched the IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech, and hardware. With this, IAN has created the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores.

Bengaluru-based startup Bizlog Value chain raises INR 12 crores pre-series-A led by IAN Fund

Offers sector ergonomic end-to-end reverse logistics solutions to diverse business houses 

Deliveryontime Logistics Pvt Ltd popularly known as 'Bizlog', a reverse logistics solutions startup, announced a fund raise INR 12 crores in a pre-series-A round led by IANFund. Paras Jain Founder of Adishwar, one of the large chains of Electronics retail in Karnataka, also participated in the fund raise along with the IAN Angels. With this raise, the company will further develop the technology, create a roadmap to onboard new verticals and expand the business pan India over the next few years.

The co-founders' HS Srinivasan, Krishnan Rajan, and E.V. Shunmugam, with their deep experience in the supply chain and logistics industry, realized that the reverse logistics activity is a large unmet demand in the logistics space providing a fast growing circular economy business opportunity to provide end to end reverse logistics. Bizlog offers services including buyback / exchange, rentals, waste management, E-commerce, Re-commerce, etc. of mobiles at the doorstep of its customers

Speaking on the announcement, HS Srinivasan, CEO, Bizlog said, "In the business value chain, reverse logistics is an untapped space that accounts for $13 billion market size, which is largely unaddressed. With disruptive, innovative, tech supported offerings Bizlog is able to benefit its customers to reduce losses, bring in efficiency, provide superior consumer experience and add huge value into the complete supply chain eco system Bizlog also offers comprehensive as well as custom made reverse logistics solutions.

Commenting on the investment thesis, Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund said, "With the growing need on electronic devices, reverse logistics is a growing need for the reuse of these products delivered at the customers' doorstep. Companies like Bizlog present sustainable solutions to the ewaste problem and are the need of the hour.. IAN is excited with the potential that the team of Srinivasan, Krishnan and Shunmugam can create!"

Paras Jain founder of Adishwar who has co-invested in Bizlog believes that "the real profits and authentication to the entire sales cycle will come from strengthening reverse logistics".

About IAN Fund

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India's entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare, biotech and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world's largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.

The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI's Fund of Funds for Startups, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Max Group, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others. This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of their growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in using its vast network to provide strategic mentorship and market access

About Bizlog

Bizlog, a focused reverse logistics service provider is currently present in 30+cities and poised to grow multifold in the near future. It is run by professionals with over 100+ years of experience in the domain of supply chain. It is providing service to many large corporates to start ups in solving their returns management and reverse logistics issues. It also provides Work from home logistics solutions to many big corporates during the pandemic situation.







11/03/20, 12:03:54 PM

IAN Fund Invests $1.4 Mn in IIT Kanpur backed Startup Phool.co

• Phool.co is perhaps India’s first new-circular economy startup to raise a US$1.4 Million round
• IAN fund invests US$1.4 Million in IIT Kanpur backed startup Phool.co, that has pioneered the flowercycling technology to upcycle cellulose waste and specializes in manufacturing charcoal-free luxury incense sticks from temple flowers
• With Deep-tech research, the startup has successfully developed a commercially viable alternative to Animal leather called “Fleather” 

Phool.co, an IIT Kanpur backed biomaterial startup, today announced that it has raised US$1.4 Million in a pre-Series A funding round. The funding round was led by IAN Fund and San Francisco based, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.

Founded by engineering graduates, Ankit Agarwal & Prateek Kumar in July 2017, Phool.co is an innovative startup focused on the circular economy which converts the floral waste into Charcoal free Luxury incense products.

With deep-tech research, the startup has developed “Fleather” leveraging their flower cycling technology. Fleather is a viable alternative to Animal leather which was recently awarded PETA’s best innovation the Vegan World.

Phool.co has rapidly expanded its operations to Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. During the lockdown, the company ensured its supply chain by sourcing flower waste directly from the distressed horticulture farmers, bringing them critical income in the toughest of times.

Phool.co vision is based on sustainable development goals focused on creating a circular economy, promoting sustainable consumption, and bringing dignified livelihoods.

Speaking on the latest development, Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund said, “Innovative solutions for the sustainable development of community is the need of the hour. Phool.co‘s circular economy model brings triple bottom benefits of environmental, social, and financial sustainability. Ankit and Prateek are passionate entrepreneurs with an innovative product for a sustainable world.” 

For its endeavors to make innovative and sustainable products, Phool.co has  received several international recognitions including the prestigious United Nations Young Leaders Award for Sustainable Development Goals , United Nations Momentum of Change Award at COP 2018, Asia Sustainability Award 2020, Hong Kong, Alquity Transforming Lives Awards, London and Breaking the Wall of Science , Berlin

IIT Kanpur has been Phool’s backbone for technical research Speaking on the latest development, Dr. Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur said “Innovation in product development aside, I am a huge fan of Phool.co because it is deeply committed to upliftment of marginal women in our society. Phool.co has given a life of dignity to dozens of women and they did this despite having an option of automating the process. For a young entrepreneur, this is remarkable commitment towards nation building”

Ankit Agarwal, Founder Phool.co said, “Phool.co is a sustainable solution to the monumental temple-waste problem in India. Through our efforts, we aim to build natural alternatives to synthetic chemical-based products by using deep-tech & Research. We are perhaps India’s first natural incense brand taking a digital-first approach and have a first-mover advantage as bio-leathers are barely available in India. We are delighted to get IAN on board as an investor and the funds raised will be used to advance the research and scale the operations of the company."

Speaking on its efforts to create a new-circular economy, Manoj Kumar, Chairperson & Founder of Social Alpha & Senior Advisor at Tata Trusts said “I am extremely proud of what Ankit and team have achieved by pioneering new-circular economy solutions with temple-flowers. The resilience and courage with which Ankit has faced the challenges have been incredible as this sector has not witnessed entrepreneurial or investment risk taking in past.  Phool has set up a new benchmark and I hope this success story motivates more people from Tier 2 cities to pursue entrepreneurial missions with their market-creating innovations."

Earlier, Phool.co had raised Rs 3.38 crore in a seed round from Social Alpha (FISE) and DRK Foundation, and a few others such as IIT Kanpur and Balmer Lawrie. 

About IAN Fund: The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crores fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.

The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, BIRAC’s ACE Fund, Kerala Startup Mission, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Max Group, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others. This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of their growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in using its vast network to provide strategic mentorship and market access.

About IIT Kanpur & its ecosystem for Startups: IIT Kanpur’s TBI, Foundation for Innovation in Research, Science and Technology (FIRST), is one of the best academic TBIs in the country. It is primarily engaged in hardware-based product development, a rare trait amongst the incubators of India.

Indian Angel Network, IAN Fund Infuse ₹ 160 Cr + into the Startup Ecosystem across 44 Deals in 2019

IAN with its Angel Network and Fund, has now become India’s largest horizontal early- and seed-stage platform, providing money & mentoring, growing young innovative startups of the country.

2019 was a Wrap! IAN (the angel platform and IAN Fund) invested a whopping INR 160 crores in 44 startups across sectors, marking the year as one of the most significant years for not just the platform but the ecosystem at large. IAN Angel Network and IAN Fund both gave cash exits : 11 companies returned cash to their investors at an average multiple of 11X.

Of impact investments and exits – 2019 at a glance

investments in several innovative ventures committed to driving large-scale social impact such as Monitra Healthcare, Chakr Innovation, Nocca Robotics, Mobycy, etc. In each case, the IAN ecosystem opened up its strategic guidance and networks to help these budding enterprises. The year was sharply focused on propositions focused on “needs” coinvesting with the VCs & strategic investors, like DSG Global (Tripti check the name), ONGC,.

2019 also became the year of 11 lucrative exits for IAN investors across high-value companies including Kwench, LBB, TagBox, Propelld, FabAlley, Myspinny, Wow! Momo, Box8, and Native Special. IAN gave an IRR (Internal rate of return) of a whopping 34% to its investors this year. Several portfolio companies like Coolberg, LBB, Bixcrum, Uniphore and StyleDotMe raised their next rounds from marquee VCs and Strategic Investors.

The IAN Platform has played its role in nation building – apart from helping breed innovative startups and mentor entrepreneurs, it has invested in sectors like manufacturing, Cleantech, biotech, water, agritech, cyber security – all focused on creating “New India”. It has simultaneously created companies with a total value of almost US$1.5bn and over 5000 jobs.

2019 was a landmark year, as IAN maiden fund, the IAN Fund, announced its final close at Rs. 375 crores – well above its target corpus of Rs. 350 crores. This early stage VC Fund created aother milestone with most of its money raised domestically – bringing some leading Individuals, Family Offices, Corporates, and the government committing to this unique fund. Investors like Hyundai, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Gray Matters, along with government funds like BIRAC, State government of Kerala, and of course Fund of Funds through SIDBI – have all partnered to bring critical Pre Series A funds to young startups.

IAN has been working closely with the government to help create a more enabling startup ecosystem; with the ghost of the Angel Tax laid to rest. In February this year, with the help of DPIIT, CBDT cleared the way for startups to be exempted from the draconian Section 56 (2) (viib). Startups now started to either get refunds or were exempted from “Angel Tax”. This boosted the startup ecosystem further.

Speaking on closing another successful year, Saurabh Srivasatava, Co-Founder, IAN said, “2019 was quite a landmark year for the Indian start up scene. We saw an extremely welcome trend of high quality founders leveraging the latest technology and innovative business models to build ventures which attempt to solve many of the challenges that India faces, in healthcare, agriculture, clean energy, etc. They are building world class, massively scalable companies which will not only have a hugely beneficial impact on our social and cultural milieu but will also disrupt the global scene in these areas. The level of innovation and aspiration among Indian start-ups has gone up tremendously and they are laying the foundation of a society that would be tech-driven, connected and sustainable. Areas like mobility, EVs, logistics, QSR have seen a spurt and Biotech is Showing clear signs of replicating India’s global dominance in IT.

Padmaja Ruparel, Founding Partner, IAN Fund said, “The ecosystem saw a revival of trust amongst the investor fraternity in 2019. Several startups raised funding across sectors both niche and mainstream such as AI, cleantech, biotech, consumer goods, healthcare, food, and apparel, among others. IAN Fund also successfully closed its first fund worth INR 375 crore, in addition to delivering impressive investor returns with exits from TagBox and Chakra Innovation. As we continue to shape synergies and promote collaborations between emerging business ventures and prominent VCs, the prospects look even more promising in the coming year. We are confident that, with its current growth trajectory, IAN Fund will achieve its objective of enabling the growth of innovative Indian start-ups with high-quality investment opportunities”

Building progressive synergies: Launch of BiAN

Aiming to unlock the immense potential of Indian biotech, Indian Angel Network came into partnership with BIRAC with the launch of BioAngels Network (BiAN) at the Global Bio India 2019. The goal of the initiative is to accelerate the growth of the Indian bioeconomy by facilitating budding innovators with access to capital, mentorship, and growth opportunities.

Driven with the ambition of becoming the single largest national platform for biotech angel investing, BiAN combines the power of regulatory vision and angel investment. The objective is to enable the Indian biotech to surpass USD 100 billion by 2025.

Moving forward, the Network and the Fund together aim to build on their impressive performance and support over 500 Indian start-ups with an investment in excess of INR 5,000 crore in 10 years.

Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 11 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 17 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor-members. Some of its marquee investee companies include WebEngage, Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure amongst many others.

Indian Angel Network has been a pioneer in the seed and early-stage investing. The network now also has SEBI registered VC Fund of ₹375 Crores. Together with IAN Angels & IAN Fund, the platform is the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores (with co-investors), thus making IAN the platform of choice!

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.

The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Yes Bank, Max Group, Gray Matters Capital, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others. This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of their growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in using its vast network to provide strategic mentorship and market access

IAN Fund Exceeds its Capital Target; Announces Final Closure of its Fund at Rs 375 Cr

Crossing an unparalleled milestone in its impressive growth trajectory, the IAN Fund, a uniquely differentiated, sector-agnostic investment platform, has successfully closed its capital fund raise at INR 375 crore. This exceeded its ambitious initial target by a remarkable INR 25 crore on the back of strong interest from investors across the country and overseas who were excited by IAN’s performance and long term vision of creating the largest and most innovative platform for seed and early stage investing.

Since its launch in April 2017, IAN Fund has been facilitating growth and scale for innovative, high-potential start-ups through seed and early-stage investments. IAN Fund portfolio currently comprises over 34 companies across domains such as AI/ML, AR/VR, biotech, cleantech, fintech, agritech and healthtech, among others. The Fund most recently exited from TagBox, a Bengaluru-based logistics start-up, delivering a 3X returns to its investors in just 18 months !

Speaking at the closure of the fund, Padmaja Ruparel, founding Partner of the IAN Fund said “We are pleased to announce the closure of our fund at INR 375 crore. The fact that we have achieved and exceeded our capital target underlines our impressive growth trajectory and highlights the faith that investors have in our vision. I would like to congratulate the entire team at IAN Fund for their significant contribution to our latest milestone. Moving ahead, we aim to scale newer heights and play a bigger role in transforming and nurturing India’s entrepreneurial landscape.”

Saurabh Srivastava, Founder of the IAN Fund, said, “The Indian start up ecosystem has evolved rapidly and is now home to some of the most exciting and innovative ventures in the world, competing with the world’s best in building solutions for the top 1 bill people. But what is even more exciting and heart warming is how they are leveraging the latest tech developments and insights, coupled with innovative business models, to create solutions for the massive challenges that India faces in areas such as health care, education, cleantech, agriculture, etc. In doing so, they are not only addressing unmet needs but are exploiting a massive business opportunity on an unprecedented scale and making India the Silicon Valley for the next 6 bill people around the world. I am delighted that with the successful closure of the IAN Fund, the IAN platform is well on its way to achieving its vision of being the largest and most innovative platform for seed/early stage investments.

Sunil Kant Munjal, Advisory Board Member, IAN Fund, said, “The Indian start-up ecosystem is entering an exciting phase of its evolution. After the initial exponential growth and subsequent consolidation, we are witnessing a shift towards value creation and differentiation through unique business models. There is a need for more quality platforms like IAN Fund committed to helping new-age Indian entrepreneurs achieve their vision and drive innovation across the country.”

IAN Fund aims to build and exploit synergies with other VC Funds, family houses, corporates, prominent individual investors as well as the VC community while also promoting collaboration between enterprises and prominent VCs. Moving forward, the platform aims to build on its mission by raising Investment capital in excess of 5,000 crore by 10 years.

About IAN Fund:

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech and hardware. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies.
The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, IIFL, Wadhwani Foundation, Yes Bank, Max Group, Gray Matters Capital, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others.

This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of their growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in using its vast network to provide strategic mentorship and market access

Bihar's Traditional Super Food Startup Sattuz gets Funding from Indian Angel Network fund

Highlighting its commitment to driving start-up activities beyond the tier-1 and metropolitan regions in India, Indian Angel Network, the largest horizontal seed-stage platform in India, has recently invested in Sattuz. Under the aegis of Gorural Foods & Beverages, the Bihar-based brand is facilitating improved access to the goodness of foods and beverages of rural India for the global consumer base comprising new-age, health-conscious individuals. Prominent IAN investors Hari Balasubramanian and Vikas Kuthiala led the funding round and will join the company board at Sattuz post investment.

Incorporated on February 28, 2019, Gorural Foods & Beverages was founded by Sachin Kumar. Richa Kumari lends key support to the company in her role as its co-founder. The company was founded with the vision of providing a tasty and healthy alternative to carbonated and caffeinated beverages currently flooding the market. On account of the limited supply of such products and the growing health awareness, the demand for non-carbonated and non-caffeinated drinks has seen a great rise over the years the world over.

“People today – especially the younger generation – are very selective regarding what they eat and drink and how it will affect their health. Naturally, they realize the value of consuming non-carbonated and non-caffeinated beverages as part of a healthy diet,” Sachin Kumar, Founder, Sattuz commented. “But the problem is that such products have very limited availability, especially in India. And add to it the challenges faced by people with fast-paced or travel-centric lifestyles who seek healthy food on the fly. Through Sattuz, we aim to fill this void exactly. Not only do the drinks under this brand offer instant energy and nutritious boost to consumers but also give them a dollop of the natural goodness of rural food and beverages! The best part is, it comes in different flavors and requires no refrigeration.”

Non-alcoholic beverage industry currently stands at over INR 200,000 crore and Sattuz – on the back of its nutritional benefits and ease of transportation – is well-placed to disrupt this high-value market. The company is targeting to capture 1-2% of market share over the next 5 years.

Speaking on the investment, Hari Balasubramanian – Lead Investor, IAN said, “Sattu is amongst one of India’s ancient superfoods . We strongly endorse the vision of the founding team that a global FMCG brand can be created out of this ancient instant food if it is adapted for modern life styles. We are also pleased to see a decent number of innovative entrepreneurs from states like Bihar and appreciate the efforts of the Bihar Industries Association in incubating entrepreneurs from the state in partnership with Indian Angel Network . The Indian consumer is always looking for new and healthy non-alcoholic beverages with distinct taste and Sattuz comes as a unique option for beverage lovers not just domestically but also across the world. We hope state governments like Bihar where people consume Sattu also start recognising and supporting startups which are looking to build FMCG brands from traditional Indian food items. We have complete faith in the disruptive potential of this venture and are looking forward to an exciting journey ahead.

“We are thankful to IAN for recognizing the value of our venture. We will leverage the capital infusion to scale up our production, strengthen our team, and expand our commercial footprint,” Sachin added.

In addition to pioneering the burgeoning rural entrepreneurial landscape in the country, Gorural Foods & Beverages is also the first start-up from Bihar which has received investment from from IAN and some members of BIA (Bihar Industries Association). This investment furthers IAN’s commitment towards facilitating a commercial pathway to entrepreneurs from tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India which falls in line with its overarching goal of enabling the Indian start-up ecosystem.

Indian Angel Network, a pioneer in the seed and early-stage investing, has launched a ₹450 Crores VC fund making it now, the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores (with co-investors), thus making IAN the platform of choice!

IAN Fund leads Rs 12.4 Crore Investment in IIT Kanpur-Incubated Nocca Robotics

As India moves towards a sustainable future on the back of recent government initiatives, many innovative start-ups have stepped forth to make this vision of a tangible reality. Underscoring its commitment to help such disruptive ventures realise their unbridled potential, IAN Fund – a uniquely differentiated seed/early-stage fund – has led an investment worth INR 12.4 crore in Pune-based Nocca Robotics. The investment also saw participation from prominent angel investors from Indian Angel Network.

Founded in April 2017, Nocca Robotics is the brainchild of IIT Kanpur graduates and robotics experts Harshit Rathore and Nikhil Kurele. Soon Ajeet Chansuriya, Mayur Chate and Samar Ahmed joined the Nocca team, to build the technology and scale the business. The venture leverages leading-edge technologies such as AI, Machine Learning, deep learning and robotics to provide automated, waterless and shareable solar panel cleaning solution for utility-scale solar parks. Through this unique solution, Nocca is aiming to address the less-discussed sustainability challenge of solar energy operations: the high financial and environmental costs of keeping solar panels clean. And brings the added benefit of water conservation.

The current manual cleaning process uses billions of litres of water. This becomes a major challenge for sustainable energy generation, especially with many parts of India fast approaching a day-zero water crisis. Indian solar plants spend close to INR 500 crore annually to clean solar plants multiple times a month, plant owners also reportedly incur production losses due to dust accumulation.

Nocca Robotics addresses these burning issues by providing waterless robotic cleaning solution to utility solar park developers and large rooftop installation companies in India. In addition to offering easy operability, the product’s shareable feature makes it extremely cost-efficient. IAN Fund’s investment into the start-up is aimed at driving growth for the innovative start-up, which is well-poised to transform the Indian as well as global solar energy market.

Harshit Rathore, CTO & Co-founder – Nocca Robotics, said, “Our waterless and shareable robotic solar panel cleaning solution enables plant owners to operate at peak efficiency while generating attractive ROIs by curbing unnecessary spends on manual cleaning and increasing the power generation. Moreover, the impact that the switch to waterless cleaning option can drive on the ecological level is immense. Water is a precious resource without which we cannot survive. Coming up with innovative alternatives to all water-based industrial processes should be the top priority of our age.”

“During our entrepreneurial journey, we have had the privilege of receiving regular mentorship and guidance from Dr Saurabh Srivastava, Mr Neil Bhaskar, SIIC IIT Kanpur, Invent IIT Kanpur and Villgro which led to the development of the product and the business. We are thankful for the support we have received from IAN Fund. The fact that they have shown confidence in our vision further bolsters our resolve to create innovative, eco-friendly industrial solutions,” he added.

Speaking on the investment, Saurabh Srivastava, Controlling & Designated Partner – IAN Fund, said, “Nocca Robotics, born in IIT Kanpur has with its unique IP for waterless robotic cleaning of solar panels and other surfaces, is well poised to leverage the government’s focus on scaling the country’s solar power generation capacity to 100 GW by 2020. Its innovative, tech-based, unique solution will address the auxiliary challenges associated with solar energy operations. IAN Fund is confident of the venture’s potential to achieve exponential growth and scale, and is committed to helping it drive unparalleled disruption in India and abroad in its chosen market segment.”

Nocca Robotics will leverage the capital infusion to set up a robust manufacturing facility to create these robots with improved quality control. This establishment will cater to 1GW of solar power per year. The company will also use the funding to bolster its R&D and strengthen the production team to deliver best-in-class products. Moreover, the team will work towards realizing its concepts and rolling out products for industrial utility in the market with renewed vigour. Moving ahead, the company is geared to launch a robot dedicated to clean rooftop solar panel installations which differ from industry-implants in both size and scale.

About IAN Fund:

The IAN Fund, an INR 375 crores fund, is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund which aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, agritech, fintech, cybersecurity, edutech, hardware products, consumer focused, leveraging VR, AI, Big Data, and deep tech. The Fund leverages and builds upon the strengths and success of IAN, the world’s largest angel investor group, to breed and grow innovative companies. The Fund brings to play the deep and wide ecosystem of IAN for its portfolio companies.

The fund has Institutional investors like SIDBI’s Fund of Funds for Startups, IIFL, Yes Bank, Max Group, Gray Matters Capital, Hyundai along with marquee individuals like Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sunil Munjal, Rajan Anandan, Kanwal Rekhi, Vikram Gandhi, Jerry Rao amongst many others. This is the first in a series of Funds so that over the next 10 years, the IAN Platform would invest Rs 5000 Cr in ~500 companies, making it the single largest platform for early stage investing, enabling companies to raise from Rs 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from a single platform, along with co investors, providing startups funding through the most challenging stages of its growth. The IAN fund plays a critical role, not just in plugging the gap in funding, but also in providing strategic mentorship to young entrepreneurs.

AI Startup Clootrack Raises $500K Funding from Indian Angel Network

Bangalore based, Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up Clootrack Software Labs Private Limited (“Clootrack”) has announced raising $500K in seed funding round from Indian Angel Network, country’s largest horizontal seed stage funding platform. Led by IAN, the round also saw participation from IAN Fund, Unicorn India Ventures (existing investor), SEA Fund and Malabar Angel Network. Anthony Thomas, Global CIO, Nissan Motors and Salliel Gupta have led the round on behalf of IAN with Anthony joining the company board. IAN investor group also includes Kris Gopalakrishnan (Co Founder, Infosys).

Founded in April 2017 by Subbakrishna Rao and Shameel Abdulla [in Pic above], Clootrack is the first of its kind AI driven data analytics platform that discovers and measures brand perceptions in real time. Clootrack does this based on analysis of customer conversations in various online media and customer care tickets. Clootrack discovers brand perception elements in an unsupervised manner from text conversations. The company runs on proprietary deep learning algorithms based on proven mathematical models and has two pending patents.

Shameel Abdulla, Co-founder CEO, Clootrack says, “It is encouraging to see top tier investors continually backing our vision and trusting in our business. We are glad to have kept our burn ratio low and built the business where healthy traction, better algorithms and deeper use of Machine Learning is showing near real time results to our customers.”

Brainchild of Shameel Abdulla and Subbakrishna Rao, CTO, Clootrack, both the founders bring serial entrepreneurship experience to the table. Shameel, an ISB drop out, holds 2 patents and has founded Jiffstore which was acquired by PepperTap and Kode Blink, a mobile app company with apps topping Appstore charts. Subbakrishna Rao, also a serial entrepreneur, has close two decades of experience in the tech sector.

Speaking on the investment, Lead IAN investor Anthony Thomas commented, “Understanding customers fast is key in today’s rapidly changing markets. Clootrack depicts a unique combination of making this happen with superior technology and rapid adoption in enterprises with smart go to market.”
Unicorn India Ventures, which is the first institutional investor in the Company, seed funded them in 2017 and has been supportive and actively mentoring the founders to scale their business.
Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, “We decided to seed fund Clootrack in 2017 because their tech stack and a well articulated strategy to solve the brands’ need gap when it comes to understanding their customers, convinced us to back them. Two years later, we believe the Company is in a sweet spot and is providing the much needed brand perception solutions to its customers. With the use of AI and deep learning, they have proven how can brands stay close to their customers and this is what has kept us interested in the Company.”

With digitization and AI ruling pretty much every aspect of our lives, even today, most of the companies receive arbitary information about their products but are unable to make anything of it. Clootrack solves this problem with its unique AI driven solutions about customer preferences. In most of large companies, 50% of the advertising costs are going into digital channels. Such channels are quite flexible and one can change their strategy within a few hours and react as per customers’ feedback provided they have that data to make a quick turnaround on their campaigns.

Clootrack assists brand managers to not only achieve this but also discovers real time brand perceptions from end users’ perspective at 80% lower costs in comparison to closed surveys, which takes months and are sometimes biased due to the nature of closed questionnaire.
Clootrack currently operates a subscription model and operates in 6 domains – Pharma, FMCG, retail, finance, travel and automotive. The Company works with more than 150 enterprises including Fortune 500 companies.

Indian Angel Network has been a pioneer in the seed and early stage investing. It has now launched a ₹450 Crores VC fund making it now, the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores (with co investors). Some of its marquee investee companies include, WebEngage, Druva, Box8, Sapience Analytics, WOW Momos, Consure amongst many others.

Unicorn India Ventures is a Mumbai based VC firm that invests in early age startups working on ideas business spanning sectors like consumer, healthcare, enterprise and deep technology domain. The Fund House has debt, equity and Indo UK cross border funds under its management. From the equity fund, Unicorn India has invested in close to 20 companies and have also done follow on investments in its portfolio companies.
The Managing partners at Unicorn Anil Joshi and Bhaskar Majumdar have a unique way of identifying innovative start-ups. The Fund will be investing solely or co-invests with another fund it institution in a startup with an innovative business idea, which can solve a real life problem. The deal size will vary from $ 1,00,000 to $ 2 million

Chennai-based Inthree Access Raises $4 Mn in Funding from Ventureast, Orios Venture and IAN Fund

Chennai-based Inthree Access, a rural area-focussed marketing, retailing and distribution firm, has raised $4 million in a Series A funding led by Ventureast, which also saw participation from Orios Venture Partners and the IAN Fund.

The startup will use the freshly raised capital to strengthen its technology backbone, enhance capabilities in last mile logistics and deepen its penetration in the 10 states where it operates.

Founded in 2013, by Ramachandran Ramanathan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan, Inthree is an mpact venture that focuses on achieving the triple goals of rural distribution, rural project implementation and rural consultancy by offering last mile distribution and expertise in working in rural markets. Inthree claims to be the safest bet to reach the farthest towns and villages in the hinterland and is a great channel to distribute products and services of immense social value to lower income groups.

Inthree also operate an e-commerce venture exclusively for rural areas called Boonbox. In September last year, Boonbox raised an undisclosed amount in pre series A round from a group of investors including Keiretsu Forum and existing investors Indian Angel Network.

Through Boobox, the company claims to have sold more than 1.5 million durable goods to more than one million households.

In a statement a business daily, co-Founders Ramanathan, Karthik and Narayanan said, "Inthree has always focused on providing the most appropriate products, backed by home delivery (irrespective of distance) and top class after-sales service. We are delighted to be funded by some of the best names in the industry and plan to utilize the funds to increase scale and strengthen our backend capabilities to delight our customers."

Rohan Dedhia, Assistant Vice President, Orios Venture says, “Boonbox is building a technology enabled commerce platform for Bharat, the next 500mn consumers in India, that hail from the smallest towns and villages in India. The company has a vision to own this ecosystem: sales, financing, logistics and service, that is currently missing in these regions. We believe that, just like in other areas like content, technology enabled commerce in India will be driven by models made for vernacular speakers. The company's growth so far, is a testament to this."

Last month, Orios Venture Partners had also participated in the funding round of Jaipur-based B2B wholesale e-commerce venture Wholesalebox.

About Ventureast, it is a two-decade-old firm investing since 1997 and has about $325 million in assets under management. The investment firm, touted as one of India's longest standing venture capital firms, has made more than 100 investments so far. It had also invested in Little Eye Labs, a tool for app developers which was later got acquired by Facebook.

Source - Economic Times

[Top Image - R. Ramanathan, Founder, Inthree Access | Via - Indianonlineseller.com]

Chennai-based Inthree Access Raises $4 Mn in Funding from Ventureast, Orios Venture and IAN Fund

Chennai-based Inthree Access, a rural area-focussed marketing, retailing and distribution firm, has raised $4 million in a Series A funding led by Ventureast, which also saw participation from Orios Venture Partners and the IAN Fund.

The startup will use the freshly raised capital to strengthen its technology backbone, enhance capabilities in last mile logistics and deepen its penetration in the 10 states where it operates.

Founded in 2013, by Ramachandran Ramanathan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan, Inthree is an mpact venture that focuses on achieving the triple goals of rural distribution, rural project implementation and rural consultancy by offering last mile distribution and expertise in working in rural markets. Inthree claims to be the safest bet to reach the farthest towns and villages in the hinterland and is a great channel to distribute products and services of immense social value to lower income groups.

Inthree also operate an e-commerce venture exclusively for rural areas called Boonbox. In September last year, Boonbox raised an undisclosed amount in pre series A round from a group of investors including Keiretsu Forum and existing investors Indian Angel Network.

Through Boobox, the company claims to have sold more than 1.5 million durable goods to more than one million households.

In a statement a business daily, co-Founders Ramanathan, Karthik and Narayanan said, "Inthree has always focused on providing the most appropriate products, backed by home delivery (irrespective of distance) and top class after-sales service. We are delighted to be funded by some of the best names in the industry and plan to utilize the funds to increase scale and strengthen our backend capabilities to delight our customers."

Rohan Dedhia, Assistant Vice President, Orios Venture says, “Boonbox is building a technology enabled commerce platform for Bharat, the next 500mn consumers in India, that hail from the smallest towns and villages in India. The company has a vision to own this ecosystem: sales, financing, logistics and service, that is currently missing in these regions. We believe that, just like in other areas like content, technology enabled commerce in India will be driven by models made for vernacular speakers. The company's growth so far, is a testament to this."

Last month, Orios Venture Partners had also participated in the funding round of Jaipur-based B2B wholesale e-commerce venture Wholesalebox.

About Ventureast, it is a two-decade-old firm investing since 1997 and has about $325 million in assets under management. The investment firm, touted as one of India's longest standing venture capital firms, has made more than 100 investments so far. It had also invested in Little Eye Labs, a tool for app developers which was later got acquired by Facebook.

Source - Economic Times

[Top Image - R. Ramanathan, Founder, Inthree Access | Via - Indianonlineseller.com]