The Chennai Angels Partners with Native Angels Network

The Chennai Angels and Native Angels Network signed an agreement yesterday to co invest in start- ups across Tamil Nadu. Both angel networks will coordinate and plan common pitch sessions on a case-to-case basis. They intend to not only fund but also mutually support start-ups for select activities. The intention is to ensure that Tamil Nadu based start-ups get a wider reach to a larger number of investors that are relevant to their industries.

Mr K Chandran, CEO, The Chennai Angels said, "The coming together of two of the largest leading angel networks in Tamil Nadu is certainly a landmark initiative. This will benefit promising start-ups across the State gain access to a huge pool of elite mentors and capital for scaling up their early stages of growth. We look forward to a fruitful and rewarding partnership with the Native Angels Network."

Mr R Sivarajah, Founder & CEO, Native Angels Network said, "We are mainly concentrating in investing in early-stage start-ups emerging from small towns of Tamil Nadu. The association with The Chennai Angels will enable us to explore newer horizons in investing. This partnership will strengthen the investment ecosystem in Tamil Nadu."

About TCA

The Chennai Angels (TCA) is one of India's leading Angel Investment Networks. In an effort to help a new generation of entrepreneurs, a group of prominent successful entrepreneurs came forward to form a consortium called The Chennai Entrepreneurship Trust Fund in Nov 2007, which is now The Chennai Angels (TCA). These members and those that followed have successfully built, run and in many cases exited enterprises across multiple domains.

Besides providing capital, TCA members act as mentors for those venturing into the business world. TCA has among itsmembers several Venture Capitalists who are available to partner with TCA on more significant outlays. TCA investors can handhold the entrepreneur through the fundraising life cycle and open doors to customers and partners of a very high order. As of today, TCA has invested over INR 130 Cr across 60+ Startups. The Chennai Angels is sector and location agnostic in its investments.

About NAN

Native Angels Network Association commonly referred to as "Native Angels" or NAN is India's first Angels driven ecosystem building organization for the small towns. The parent body Nativelead Foundation was founded in the year 2012 as a trust and its investments focused arm Native angels was incorporated in the year 2015.

Native Angels is a community driven model and currently having 6 local chapters (Madurai, Coimbatore, Erode, Karur, Trichy and Tuticorin) and three Native Connect chapters (Chennai, Washington DC and Tokyo). Native Angel's core objectiveis to nurture and invest in Startups emerging from the small towns of Tamil Nadu. They also co-invest with other like-minded agencies across the country.

They prefer to invest in startups working in the domains of Agri -Tech, Retail, Healthcare, Edu-tech, Clean- tech venture with social impact and ESG compliance.

Ed-Tech Firm uFony Services Raises Funds from Chennai Angels for Its School Diary® Platform

uFony Services Pvt. Ltd., the Pune-based Ed-Tech company, has raised funding from The Chennai Angels & other independent investors for School Diary®, an interactive platform that brings education to smartphones. School Diary® is a user-friendly platform that caters to K12 schools, helping them engage students and conduct classes virtually without compromising on privacy.

It is an integrated virtual classroom with online teaching, virtual PTMs, instant academic and non-academic updates, and even an online store where parents can shop for school products. The platform also has an administrator interface to collect online payments, automate accounting, manage transport, track live busses, monitor driver/staff behavior, manage payroll, inventory & accounts, and much more.

Running profitably for the last 3 (three) years, uFony is a leading player in the K12 Education space. The company provides SAAS solutions to 1000+ educational institutes including colleges, schools, coaching, pre-schools, and daycares across 10+ countries. Post-COVID, uFony aims to bring about a change in traditional teaching methods and make them more compatible for the future.

“School Diary® is being leveraged by Schools across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. It is generating interest from a lot of School Districts in the USA,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, Founder of uFony Services Pvt. Ltd. “With smartphone penetration on the rise and digital learning to gain acceptance, we expect more and more schools in the USA and other countries to sign up for School Diary®. Our recent raise is to enhance our digital presence and enroll business partners to scale up quickly in the international market.”

The education industry is rapidly changing to adapt to an unstable situation. “The great thing about Ufony is its constant efforts to rediscover themselves and to provide greater value to their existing customers. By providing new features constantly, Ufony unfolds new ways of using its services at little or no extra cost and certainly with minimal efforts,” said R. Narayanan (Naru), the Investment Director. “Take for example its latest feature of video. With the mere addition of a tripod on which the cellphone can be perched, the teacher is able to instantly include an ailing child who is unable to attend class. Just at the press of two or three buttons on a phone, the sick child is transported right into the class where they can view their teachers and friends as well. Great application to a video conferencing function. Even greater addition to School Diary®’s functionality.” 

Chandran Krishnan, CEO of The Chennai Angels says, “The traditional education system that schools followed pre-COVID has led to a disruption in studies for students across the globe. Platforms like School Diary® have paved the way for education to be advanced, accessible, and most of all fun. Students seem to enjoy the idea of online classes, a trend that might become essential in the near future. We are excited to see the growth of School Diary®, which brings school to students’ smartphones.”

Established in November 2007, The Chennai Angels (TCA) is one of the leading angel networks in India. TCA is sector and geography agnostic, and has made 52 investments till date, with a 20% exit track record, in enterprise solutions, consumer products, education, healthcare, automotive, gaming and other sectors. TCA is a member-driven network with 100+ successful industry leaders, technocrats, and business professionals in its network. 

The Indus Valley Raises Rs 2.5 Crores from The Chennai Angels

The Chennai Angels (TCA) today announced an additional investment of Rs 2.5 Crores, in a bridge round, in Good Roots Kitchenware Private Limited, a differentiated and successful online healthy kitchen products store – The Indus Valley. The funds will be used to expand their presence in India’s growing home and kitchen products space.

Mr. Chandu Nair led the investment round with business leaders in Chennai - CK Ranganathan, V Shankar, Sathish Kumar and Lakshmi Narayanan participating in the fund raise.

“We are excited to see the growth in The Indus Valley. We believe that the company has great growth potential. This bridge round reaffirms our conviction of the product, the model and core team`` said Mr. Chandu Nair who led the investment from The Chennai Angels.

“We see this second round of investment from TCA as a token of faith. We have grown 500% over the previous Financial year and on track for very aggressive growth next year as well.” said Mr. Jagadeesh Kumar of The Indus Valley.

“Our vision is to make all kitchens safe for our loved ones. With more people in India moving towards healthier lifestyle choices we are a constant hit among our target group.” said Ms. Madhumitha Udaykumar of The Indus Valley.

The Indus Valley, designs and sells healthy cookware products like Tawa, Kadai and Spatulas. The Chennai based start-up sells primarily online on www.theindusvalley.in and e-commerce portals like Amazon & Flipkart. Currently they are processing 6000+ online orders every month.

The Chennai Angels (TCA, www.thechennaiangels.com) is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises. Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group. Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

The Chennai Angels Invests $1 Million in Chai Kings

The Chennai Angels (TCA) today announced an investment of 1 million USD in Chai Kings-Chennai’s largest Chai Retail chain along with Hyderabad Angels and TiE India Angels, who have also participated in this round.

“We are very excited to partner with Chai Kings in the bridge round. We believe the company has a strong leadership team with immense potential to grow and expand across India. The new investment reiterates our commitment towards building a sustainable and scalable Indian QSR.”, said Mr. Piyush Bhandari who lead the investment from TCA.

“We are happy with the success and progress of our brand “Chai Kings” in Chennai and this funding round will help us expand into newer cities. We hope to enter Coimbatore, Bangalore and Hyderabad in this current year and get closer to our target of 100 stores in 5 years. Apart from expansions, bulk of this funding will be utilized to strengthen our operations and supply chain management.” said Mr. Jahabar Sadique, CEO of Chai Kings,

Chai Kings, founded in 2016 is the Chennai’s largest Chai Retail chain operating with 40 stores. Chai Kings offers a sumptuous range of chai in exotic flavours, in the most hygienic ambience and at perfectly justifiable prices. Chai Kings also delivers Chai at your doorstep anywhere in Chennai, uses food grade use-and-throw heat retaining chai flask for safe consumption also ensuring the Chai is piping hot for at least an hour. With the vision to be the favourite chai place across India, Chai Kings is expanding rapidly with the target of 100 stores in 5 years.

The Chennai Angels (TCA, www.thechennaiangels.com) is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises. Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group. Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

Healthy Cookware E-Store 'The Indus Valley' Raises ₹1 Cr from The Chennai Angels

The Chennai Angels (TCA) today announced 1crore Investmentin The Indus Valley, engaged in running an online healthy cookware products store.

The Indus Valley, was founded in 2016 by the husband and wife duo Jagadeesh Kumar and Madhumitha Udaykumar. Their idea is to transform Indian kitchens with healthier cookware options. The funds will be used to expand their presence in India’s growing home and cookware products space.

“Indus Valley is a natural cookware brand designing and selling healthy cookware options that are made using natural materials like iron, clay and wood, working with artisans to produce the products. Their core customers are women in major cities between 25-40 years of age, who are health conscious. The cookware industry is poised to grow at 21% p.a. and customers are getting increasingly health conscious and the organic food, wellness market, fitness market is growing are all growing at 20-25%. We look forward to working with the Indus Valley team and help them scale up their operations,"said Mr. Chandu Nair who lead the investment from The Chennai Angels.

"We are extremely excited to partner with The Chennai Angels. Our investors come with varied skill set and would be a great value addition to our company through their constant mentoring and support. More people in India are moving towards healthier lifestyle choices. Our solution to transform Indian Kitchens with healthier cookware products is a constant hit among our target group.” said Mr. Jagadeesh Kumar Co-Founder of The Indus Valley.

The Chennai Angels is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises. Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group. Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

The Chennai Angels Invests ₹2 Crore in Largest Chai Retail Chain in Chennai "Chai Kings",

The Chennai Angels (TCA) today announced a 2 Crores investment in Chai Kings, the largest Chai Retail Chain in Chennai.

The development comes within six months after Chai Point, the largest organized Chai Company in India, raised $20 million Series C funding round, led by Paragon Partners, in April this year.

Chai Kings, founded in 2016 is the largest Chai Retail Chain in Chennai operating with 8 stores. Chai Kings offers a sumptuous range of chai in exotic flavours, in the most hygienic ambience and at perfectly justifiable prices. Chai Kings also delivers Chai at your doorstep through in house delivery personnel as well as through the online food aggregators. Chai Kings deliver upto 4 kms radius from the outlets and uses food grade use-and-throw heat retaining chai flask for safe consumption also ensuring the Chai is piping hot for at least 50 minutes. With the vision to be the favourite chai place, Chai Kings is expanding rapidly in Chennai with the target of 100 stores in 5 years.

“Sadique and Balaji have built a strong brand with Chai Kings, which has a great potential to scale given the vast consumption base in the country. We look forward to working with the Chai Kings team and helping them scale up their operations. We are excited to partner with Chai Kings and be a part of their growth journey.”, said Mr. Piyush Bhandari who lead the investment from The Chennai Angels.

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“We are super happy with our progress so far and to have created a niche and following for the brand. This investment coming at the right time will further propel us. This funding proceeds will be used towards adding retail stores and to strengthen our service operations” said Jahabar Sadique, Co-Founder & CEO, Chai Kings.

“We are excited to have The Chennai Angels part of our journey. We are planning to setup additional stores to cater to folks in IT Parks, Malls and few stores in High Streets, at a faster pace. There is going to be a sea of new product launches as well” said Balaji Sadagopan, Co-Founder & COO, Chai Kings.

India is one of the world's biggest tea consumer and in the coming months, startups like Chai Kings will also face competition from the Tata Group, which has already launched its Tata Cha tea cafes and plans to aggressively ramp it up.

Besides, Chaipoint had recently launched its 100th store in Indiranagar, Bangalore. Mr Priyank Kharge, Minister of Social Welfare Development, Karnataka Government inaugurated the Store.

The Chennai Angels is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises.

Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group. Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

The Chennai Angels Invests in Automobiles Parts Marketplace SparesHub.com

The Chennai Angels (TCA) today announced an investment of Rs. 40 lakhs in Iradium Automobiles Private Limited. The investment was as part of the total investment round of Rs. 2 crores which also saw participation from Anthill Scale Ventures (Singapore), Esvee Technologies Inc. (USA), Inc95 Consulting and other HNIs. Iradium Automobiles Private Limited owns and manages SparesHub.com, an automobiles parts marketplace catering to the requirements of car parts of independent multi-brand workshops and car owners across India. The startup is based in Pune and has a total team size of 27 employees.

There are more than 23 million cars in India and the automobile parts replacement market is estimated to be worth $8 billion growing at an estimated 12%-14% year on year. The traditional car parts industry is evolving fast with many car makers opening and promoting the open sale of car parts to multi-brand workshops and car owners.

SparesHub.com offers an extensive range of parts like braking system, clutch system, suspension system for cars along with regular service parts.

The investment funds would be used to grow the current customer base of SparesHub, enter new geographical areas of operations and strengthen its technology platform. SparesHub currently has 170+ registered workshops on it’s platform who buy car parts regularly from SparesHub. This is the second investment round that the startup has raised. The first investment round was raised in October 2015.

“Spareshub in a venture which is the process of transforming the way genuine automotive spares are distributed ,by using technology. Creating an online platform showcasing spares from leading automobile Manufactures, Spareshub is also enhancing the reach of genuine spares to the underserved ,remote parts of the country .Given the fast growing automobile industry and aftermarket, Spareshub is uniquely positioned to tap the consequent emerging opportunities in the sector”. said Mr. Mahalingam one of the investors from The Chennai Angels.

“We are very excited about the next phase of growth at SparesHub with this investment round. The Indian auto parts industry has started to adopt e-commerce, and other modern retail methodologies. SparesHub is at the forefront of these evolutions and on track with its vision of revolutionizing the auto parts industry in India using technology,” said Mr. Tapas Gupta, Founder and CEO of Iradium Automobiles Private Limited.

Iradium Automobiles Private Limited owns and operates Spareshub.com, an online marketplace of automobiles parts through which anyone can buy and sell automobiles parts throughout India.

The Chennai Angels is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises. Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group. Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

How Chennai Startups Are Playing Heroes For India's Troubled Economy

Chennai's startup scene has seen a slow but steady growth over the years. While there have been sharp ups and downs seen in other Indian Startup ecosystems, Chennai's Startup ecosystem has always held its ground and as a result of, it is now emerging as a thriving startup ecosystem. From hi-tech labs housed within research institutions to 24x7 active co-working spaces, Chennai has it all.

Over a period of last 6-7 years, Chennai has been successful in establishing its name as an enterprise or SaaS (Software as a Service) hub. In fact, it has been witnessed that even the investors who grace the city for a pitch, most often make a request for SaaS companies before going for their meetings with the founders. According to Venture Intelligence's Arun Natarajan's statement to a national daily, Zoho and Freshdesk can be credited for establishing a clear branding in the favour of Chennai city.

The city isn't just home to business models that have been tried and tested in other Startup ecosystems. While there's no denying the fact that established business models are aplenty in the city, but Chennai is also a welcome place for new business models. Incubators like The Startup Centre, the Paypal Startank, IIT-M Research Park and Anna University Incubator have provided a great atmosphere of innovation and research to aid budding entrepreneurs in coming up with new, out-of-the box ideas.

Chennai has also caught the fancy of various famous industry bodies like CII, Nasscom etc. The city witnesses sessions for city entrepreneurs being arranged by the CII and The Indus Entrepreneurs. Last year saw Naascom opening the door of its Tidel Park warehouse to 13 startups, which included names like Furnify, Klenty and Paperflite.

Akshay Sasikumar, Manager of 10,000 startups, Nasscom feels that Chennai has seen a flurry of startup activity after the opening of the Startup warehouse. He also added that, since inception Nasscom has been working as a facilitator for startups to get connected to the industry, and the body strives to do the same for the Chennai ecosystem.

According to Pick Your Trail's co-founder Hari Ganapathy's statement to TOI, the Chennai Startup ecosystem is finally taking shape. Events, group discussions, and an active angel community, which are some of elements considered crucial for a startup ecosystem, have now all come together in Chennai.

While everything seems to be going on smoothly, some startups feel that the city's infrastructure needs to be improved drastically. This is mainly because infrastructure plays an important supportive role in the success of a startup ecosystem, and for the Chennai startup ecosystem to be able to compete at a global level, the city will have to do something about its infrastructure issues.

So, while India's economy currently flounders, the Chennai Startup ecosystem seems to have its back.

The Chennai Angels Invests in Chennai-Based E-Vegetailing Private Limited

The Chennai Angels (TCA) has announced a seed investment of Rs 1.1 Crores in E-Vegetailing Private Limited, a Chennai-based start-up engaged in selling farm fresh vegetables procured directly from farmers and delivered to customers with its innovative technology backend. Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder – Aspire Systems, led the round on behalf of The Chennai Angels. This capital will be used by E-Vegetailing to build its farmer network, increase procurement points and enhance its logistics operations.

E-Vegetailing was started in 2014 with the vision of providing quality vegetables to consumers directly from farmers. The company aims to bridge the gap between the Consumer and the Farmer by providing a web-based platform for people across cities to get premium quality produce at the best price for their daily requirements. The company currently serves over 10,000 kg/day in and around Chennai.

This is the first round of funding that the company is receiving since its inception.

Edwin Rajamohan, Founder CEO, E-Vegetailing said, “We are thrilled to receive our first round of investment from The Chennai Angels. This capital will help us scale up our business and simultaneously enhance our seamless farm-to-door solution. We will be growing the business with a multi-pronged approach; increase the customer base, expand into various verticals and scale up procurement from the 10,000 to 50000 kg/day mark.”

Commenting on the investment, Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO & Co-founder, Aspire Systems said, "We strongly believe that E-Vegetailing has the potential to forge a strong and productive relationship with farmers to further our common focus on increasing efficiencies in the farm-to-fork supply chain and creating a technology enabled business supporting the requirements of farmers and customers, both individuals and businesses.”

Syona Cosmetics Bags Funding From The Chennai Angels

Chennai-based Syona Cosmetics Pvt Ltd. that offers beauty products and training services to salons and spas, has raised Rs 1 crore from The Chennai Angels, an existing investor in the company. This is company’s second angel round in which The Chennai Angels has bought 17.97 per cent stake, taking its holding to 35.95 per cent, as per VCCircle report.

Started in 2012, Syona Cosmetics provides professional beauty products and training to salons and spas. It offers services under the brand names X-proC, Intenso, Lumiance and Klarissa. The firm was founded by Raja Varatharaju and Anuradha Balasubramanian. Prior to founding Syona, Varatharaju worked with companies such as Henkel, Ford and CavinKare while Anuradha worked with HeyMath, Vodafone and CavinKare.

The company is also looking at overseas expansion. Othe players operating in the same space include Vini Cosmetics Pvt Ltd. raised funding from Sequoia Capital while Mountain Valley Springs India Pvt Ltd, which sells products under the Forest Essentials brand, is backed by Estee Lauder Companies Inc.

The Chennai Angels was founded in November 2007 and provides finance to early-stage technology-based companies in India. It has invested in nearly 40 startups since inception. Its portfolio includes companies such as Silvan Innovation, Finance Buddha, Cloudcherry, Brigge and ProKlean.

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