Five Most Active Angel Investors In India: Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018

This article is an extract of Inc42’s recently released Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018, which provides a detailed analysis of the funding trends, VC funds analysis, and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the Indian startup ecosystem for the period January-June 22, 2018. To read more articles of this report, click here.

In our last article, we talked about the five most active VC funds of H1 2018. Today, we tell you about the top five angel investors. Before we share names, let’s take a look at some interesting trends around angel investor participation in funding in the first half of the year.

According to Inc42 DataLabs, 231 active angel investors participated in Indian tech startup funding in H1 2018. The number declined 35% from H1 2017 which saw 357 angel investors and 13% fall from H2 2017 when 267 angel investors participated in the funding.

The data also revealed that between 2015 and 2018, 1,597 angel investors invested in the Indian startup ecosystem.

According to the Inc42 Datalabs’ Indian Tech Startup Funding Report H1 2018, till June 22, $3 Bn was invested across 372 deals — a 47% decline in the total funding amount and a 17% drop in the number of deals as compared to H2 2017.

Here are the top five Angels who participated in Indian tech startup funding in H1 2018:

Binny Bansal

Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal seems to have had a fantastic H1 2018 with the successful acquisition of Flipkart by global retailer Walmart for $16 Bn for a 77% stake at a valuation of $22 Bn. He has made it to the top of our Angel investors list with four investments!

In H1 2018, Binny Bansal invested in Bengaluru-based biotech startup Pandorum Technologies and Mumbai-based FMCG startup QwikPik Technology, which owns and operates YumLane, among others.

Rajan Anandan

The second spot was taken by Rajan Anandan, the Google India managing director, who has invested in a large number of startups. Anandan’s previous stints include managing director at Microsoft India for two years; he also worked for Dell India from 2006 to 2008.

He usually invests in Internet, mobile, and SaaS-based startups and seems to be keen on healthcare.

In H1 2018, he invested in Bengaluru-based online lingerie startup Buttercups, Bengaluru-based healthcare startup for mothers PregBuddy, and Delhi-NCR based healthtech startup LetsMD.

Girish Mathrubootham

The third spot was taken by Girish Mathrubootham, the founder and CEO of Freshdesk, a cloud-based customer support platform that enables companies to provide efficient customer services. Mathrubootham was inspired to start the company after reading a comment on a Hacker News Post in 2010, which made him leave his job at AdventNet where he worked for nine years.

He usually invests in consumer Internet, enterprise software, and SaaS startups.

In H1 2018, he invested in Bengaluru-based news media startup FactorDaily and Bengaluru-based logistics startup Pando.

Kris Gopalakrishnan

In the fourth spot was Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, popularly known as Kris Gopalakrishnan, the executive vice-chairman (former co-chairman) of Infosys, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. He is also one of its seven founders.

Gopalakrishnan was elected as the President the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2013-14. In 2014, Gopalakrishnan co-founded Axilor Ventures, a venture capital platform for young entrepreneurs.

In 2011, the Indian government awarded him with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour.

In H1 2018, he invested in Chennai-based submersible robotic inspection startup Planys Technologies and Growth Story-promoted B2B foodtech company HungerBox.

Lakshmi Narayanan

The fifth most active angel investor in H1 2018 was Lakshmi Narayanan, the ex-vice chairman and ex-CEO of Cognizant, a multinational IT services company. He was the CEO and president of Cognizant until 2006.

He recently served as chairman of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies).

In H1 2018, he invested in Bengaluru-headquartered furniture rental startup Furlenco and the Sachin Tendulkar-backed gaming company, Smaaash.

Liked what you read so far? We have a lot more insights and data in our full report, which covers funding trends in Tier I, Tier II, Tier III cities, across 14 industries and sectors segregated by the funding stage. It also has details on average ticket size, investor types, and a lot more, for the period of H1 2018.

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