The 30 Most Active Indian Startup Investors Of 2022

Reeling under the macroeconomic headwinds, the year 2022 turned out to be the year of market correction for the Indian startup ecosystem. The global economic slowdown and high inflation made investors cautious, which led to the onset of a funding winter. The funding raised by Indian startups declined 40% to $25 Bn in 2022 from $42 Bn in 2021.

However, the country minted 21 unicorns in 2022, crossing the mark of 100 unicorns in the process, despite the funding crunch, layoffs, and shutdowns in the startup ecosystem.

Despite the decline in funding, investors seemed to be bullish about the Indian startup ecosystem, as the year saw the announcement and launch of 126 funds, including venture capital funds, micro funds, corporate VC funds, and debt funds as against 61 funds in 2021. These funds cumulatively raised over $18 Bn to invest in Indian startups as against $6 Bn in the previous year, and seem to be waiting for the right time to deploy this capital.

We bring you the list of most active startup investors of 2022 in the Indian ecosystem.

This only includes the most active investors based on their deal participation in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022. The ranking is done based on deals recorded in our internal database and Inc42’s annual investor survey. 

Meet The Most Active Startup Investors Of 2022

LetsVenture

Founded in 2013 by Shanti Mohan and Sanjay Jha, LetsVenture is a startup investment marketplace that enables investors to discover and invest in startups via its proprietary tech platform.

LetsVenture completed 360 deals in 2022. Among its notable investments during the year was its participation in the Series A funding round of homegrown quick service restaurant chain Burger Singh. Besides, it also backed feminine hygiene startup Sanfe and ecommerce rollup startup Evenflow.

In 2022, LetsVenture also partnered with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to invest in early-stage startups under the government’s SAMRIDH startup accelerator programme.

AngelList India

Founded in 2009 by Naval Ravikant, AngelList allows investors to put in as little as $1,000 alongside accredited backers through investment syndicates. It rolled out an India-focused venture and angel fund in 2019.

AngelList India participated in 285 funding deals in 2022. It backed B2B manufacturing and supply chain enablement startup Magma, content sharing startup SuperShare, coliving marketplace Crib, among others, during the year.

Venture Catalysts

The Mumbai-based integrated incubator, set up by Dr Apporva Ranjan Sharma and Anuj Golecha, usually invests $200K to $2 Mn in early-stage startups. The investments are syndicated with participation from HNIs, family offices, and CXOs. 

Venture Catalysts partnered with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) in 2022 to set up a $100 Mn proptech fund to invest in early-stage and growth-stage startups working in diverse sub-sectors of real estate.

Venture Catalysts participated in 207 deals in 2022 to invest in investment tech startup AlgoBulls, spacetech startup Agnikul, intercity mobility startup Zingbus, among others.

Sequoia Capital

The US-based venture capital (VC) firm launched a $2 billion early stage venture and growth fund for India in 2022. The fund’s closure was announced in June 2022.

In 2022, Sequoia Capital completed 86 investment deals in India and backed startups such as SaaS unicorn Chargebee, B2B SaaS platform CleverTap, and Scaler Academy.

2022 was a difficult year for the VC firm’s India arm as its portfolio startups like BharatPe, Zilingo, and Trell were embroiled in controversies, raising questions about the corporate governance at its companies. Following this, Sequoia India released a blog post outlining how it looks at the corporate governance issues and “a set of proactive steps” to counter misconduct.

Better Capital

Founded in 2018 and run by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vaibhav Domkundwar, Better Capital is backed by founders, operators and investors from across the world. Former and current leaders at Meta, Google, Uber, LinkedIn, Tiger Global, TPG, and the World Bank are among its backers.

In 2022, Better Capital participated in 75 funding deals in the Indian startup ecosystem, including those of fintech startups Gullak and M2P Fintech and creator-owned marketplace startup HYPD.

We Founder Circle

Founded in 2020 by Gaurav Sanghavi, Neeraj Tyagi, Bhawna Bhatnagar, Deo Saurabh and Vikas Aggarwal, We Founder Circle has backed over 70 homegrown startups till now. It has a wide network of 6,500 investors across 40 countries.

In December 2022, the investment firm launched two angel funds – $24 Mn angel fund ‘Invstt Trust’ and $30 Mn cross-border angel fund ‘We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund’.

In 2022, it participated in 71 funding deals of startups. It led seed funding round of smart parking solutions platform ParkMate and pre-seed funding round of Uma Robotics. Besides, it also invested in foodtech startup Anveshan.

Stride Ventures

Founded in 2019 by Ishpreet Gandhi, the Delhi-based venture debt firm invests in startups working in diverse sectors such as fintech, agritech, B2B commerce, healthtech, B2B SaaS, mobility and energy solutions.

In August 2022, Stride Ventures closed its second fund, Stride Ventures India Fund II, with a corpus of $200 Mn to write cheques between $4 Mn–$5 Mn to 60-70 startups over a period of four years.

It participated in 55 funding rounds in 2022, including that of agritech startup WayCool, EV-ride hailing platform BluSmart, and EV battery swapping network Battery Smart. 

ah! Ventures

ah! Ventures is a curated sector-agnostic fundraising platform for early-stage startups raising funds up to $10 Mn. The Mumbai-based firm has backed several early-stage startups across sectors till now.

In June 2022, it launched an alternative investment fund (AIF) with a corpus of around $14 Mn (INR 100 Cr). The fund also has a green shoe option of INR 50 Cr. The maiden angel fund will primarily focus on startups working in healthcare, fintech, education, B2B SaaS, enterprisetech, and D2C sectors.

ah! Ventures participated in 54 startup funding deals in 2022, including that of We360.ai, Immersive Vision, and Klassroom. 

InnoVen Capital

InnoVen Capital Pte Ltd is a joint venture of Seviora (Temasek) and United Overseas Bank. It primarily focuses on sectors such as consumer internet, B2B commerce, enterprise software, fintech, healthtech, and logistics.

InnoVen provides debt to startups in India, Southeast Asia and China. In 2022, it participated in 52 deals and invested in prominent startups such as MediBuddy, Rebel Foods, and Scripbox.

Accel

The Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm entered India in 2005. In 2008, it began its journey in India, with the $10 Mn Accel India Venture Capital Fund. Accel India raised $650 Mn towards its seventh fund, Accel India VII, in 2022. The fund will invest in early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia. 

The VC firm likes to be the first investor in a company. In India and Southeast Asia, it is the first institutional investor in over 85% of its investments, with 95% of its investments being in seed or Series A rounds, the firm claimed earlier.

In 2022, the VC firm participated in 48 deals. It invested in startups like Fashinza, Detect Technologies, and Scripbox.

Inflection Point Ventures

Early-stage angel investing firm Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) was founded in 2019. It brings together over 6,400 CXOs, HNIs and professionals to invest in startups. 

In 2022, IPV launched $50 Mn CAT II AIF Physis Capital for investing in select pre-Series A to Series B startups across commerce, consumer tech, social/ content creator, B2B SaaS and enterprisetech sectors.

It made 48 investments in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022, including in beverage brand Bored Beverages, OTT platform STAGE, and fintech startup MoneyPlanned.

100X.VC

Founded in 2019, 100X.VC is led by angel investor Sanjay Mehta’s Mehta Ventures and was launched as a cohort-based investment model. In April 2022, 100X.VC said it would invest INR 125 Cr (over $16.5 Mn) in 100 early-stage startups over a period of 12 months.

In 2022, it made 45 investments in startups across sectors such as edtech startup Super Scholar and B2B Saas startup ElevateHQ. 

Tiger Global

US hedge fund Tiger Global has been bullish about Indian startups for several years now. It has invested in several prominent tech startups and has minted close to 40 unicorns in the country till date. 

The management of Tiger Global said in October 2022 that its PIP Fund 16 would invest ‘largely in enterprise themes and in India’ and ‘in a lower-valuation environment’. It stated that investment in India is one of Tiger Global’s primary focuses. Keeping up its momentum in the private market of India, it participated in 44 deals in the startup ecosystem in 2022. It invested in startups such as CleverTap, CRED, Open. Considerably, neobank Open became India’s 100th unicorn. 

Trifecta Capital

Founded by Rahul Khanna and Nilesh Kothari in 2014, Trifecta Capital provides customised financing solutions for businesses in various sectors such as B2B, consumer services, consumer brands, ecommerce, mobility, edtech, agritech, fintech and healthcare.

The venture debt investor raised INR 1,500 Cr ($200 Mn) for The Trifecta Leaders Fund – I, its first ever equity fund in early 2022. 

Last year, it locked 42 investment deals, backing prominent startups such as Country Delight, Rebel Foods, and Scripbox.

FAAD

Founded in 2015 by Karan Verma and Dr Dinesh Singh, FAAD invests in early-stage startups across sectors. Angel Network by FAAD was launched in 2019. Some of its portfolio companies include Blu Smart, Battery Smart, WCube, Cleardekho, Huviair, Hesa, and Beyond Snacks.

Last month, it received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch a Category 1 AIF of INR 300 Cr.

While it participated in 36 investment deals in 2022, investing in D2C eyewear startup ClearDekho, gaming app Quizy, cloud kitchen startup Terra Food Co, among others.

3one4 Capital

Founded in 2015 by brothers Pranav Pai and Siddarth Pai, 3one4 Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund that typically invests between $500k and $4 Mn in early-stage startups.

It primarily focuses on AI/ML-driven actionable intelligence services, enterprise automation, ambient intelligence technologies, consumer products, fintech, media, multilingual content and digital health startups.

It participated in more than 35 funding deals last year, including that of HR tech unicorn Darwinbox, vernacular audio platform Kuku FM, and neobank Open. 

Blume Ventures

Founded in 2010 by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath, Blume Ventures invests in startups operating in diverse sectors such as edtech, fintech, health, commerce, consumer internet, AI, SaaS and enterprise software. 

Blume Ventures announced the final closure of its $250 Mn fund exceeding its target corpus of $200 Mn in December 2022.

In 2022, it backed 31 startups, including browser testing platform Lambdatest, Pixxel, and Jai Kishan.

Artha Group 

Artha Group of Companies invests through its early-stage investment arm Artha India Ventures. Part of the family office of Ashok Kumar Damani and Ramesh M. Damani, Artha India Ventures is an early-stage sector agnostic firm that has been investing in startups since early 2012.

The Mumbai-based Group also launched INR 450 Cr winners-only micro VC fund, Artha Select Fund (ASF) in October 2022, to invest in its portfolio startups. 

In 2022, Artha Group closed 30 investment deals, including that of Daalchini, edu-gaming platform Fantasy Trading League, and Mumbai-based chess academy HobSpace.

SucSEED Ventures

SucSEED Ventures started as a network of angels in 2016 . SucSEED Indovation Fund received licence as an angel fund in the Category 1 AIF from market regulator SEBI and marked the first close of its INR 100 Cr fund in 2020. 

It participated in 30 deals in 2022 and backed startups such as EduGorilla, SpeEdlabs, and cloud gaming platform The Gaming Project. 

The Chennai Angels

The Chennai Angels is an angel investment group in India with over 140 individual, corporate and institutional members. It invests in early-stage startups, with focus on sectors such as agritech and sustainability, electric vehicles, deeptech, healthtech, fintech, D2C and Web3.

It participated in 30 funding deals in 2022, investing in fintech startup Freed, petcare startup Goofy Tails, and cloud kitchen startup Terra Food Co.

Elevation Capital

The Gurugram-based venture capital firm invests in consumer brands, consumer tech, enterprise, SaaS, financial services and logistics startups. Its portfolio startups include Chaayos, Country Delight, The Souled Store, among others.

It participated in 28 startup funding deals in 2022, including that of Chaayos, Polygon, and SUGAR.

9Unicorns

In 2019, Venture Catalysts launched a $43.41 Mn fund called 9Unicorns to back early-stage startups across diverse sectors like electric vehicles, mobility, augmented reality, VR, AI and ML, fintech and retail. 

The startup incubator announced the fifth closure of its maiden fund at $100 Mn in May 2022. 

It participated in 27 investment deals in 2022, backing startups like Power Gummies, Evenflow, and MarketWolf. 

BEENEXT

BEENEXT is a global venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups in India, Southeast Asia, Japan and the US. The VC firm closed its Emerging Asia Fund at $110 Mn in 2020, and announced that over 50% of it would be invested in Indian startups. 

In 2022, BEENEXT participated in 27 funding deals. Some of its notable investments in 2022 were in MemeChat, PazCare, and ShopSe. 

Anicut Capital

Founded in 2016 by Ashvin Chadha and IAS Balamurugan, Anicut Capital currently manages an equity-based angel fund,  Anicut Opportunities Fund I, and two debt funds – Grand Anicut Fund I and Grand Anicut Fund II. 

In June 2022, Anicut Capital marked the first closure of its sector-agnostic Anicut Opportunities Fund I after raising INR 110 Cr. It participated in 26 deals in 2022, investing in startups such as MasterChow, Snapmint, and The Ayurveda Experience.

JITO Angel Network

Founded in 2017, Mumbai-based JITO Angel Network is a subsidiary of Jain International Trade Organisation. Some of its portfolio companies include HomeCapital, Siply, Blusmart, Vidyakul, S3V Vascular Technologies, Galaxy Card, and Finance Peer. 

In 2022, JITO Angel Network participated in 25 deals and backed startups such as Renkube, Super Scholar,  and TABLT Pharmacy. 

Matrix Partners India

Matrix Partners India was founded in 2006 as a franchisee of the US-based Matrix Partners. Matrix Partners India has invested in major startups like Ola, VerSe, Stanza Living, and Razorpay over the years.

In 2022, it was reportedly looking to raise a $450 Mn fund to invest in India and other South Asian markets. During the year, it participated in 24 funding deals, investing in startups like Oxyzo, Rocketlane, MoEngage.

Info Edge And InfoEdge Ventures

Info Edge Ventures is a venture capital firm backed by Info Edge and Temasek that invests in early-stage, tech-enabled start-ups. It backs startups across sectors spanning foodtech, insuretech, Web 3, healthtech, fintech, edtech, agritech, and retailtech, among others.

In 2022, InfoEdge and its investment arm participated in 24 deals. Some of their notable invests include startups such as enterprise gifting platform Swageazy, data analytics startup Lumiq, edtech startup Adda247.

2am VC

The sector-agnostic venture fund was launched by entrepreneur and investor Bredan Rogers and Hershel Mehta in 2020. The VC fund backs early-stage homegrown startups led by millennials. 

In 2021, it announced that it would invest $10 Mn in over 50 homegrown startups by the end of 2022. It participated in 23 funding deals in 2022, backing startups like Fieldproxy, GoldSetu, and Spare8.

Y Combinator

The US-based early-stage startup accelerator has invested in over 150 Indian startups so far. Outside the US, India has remained the most represented country in its accelerator batches for some time now. 

Y Combinator hosts a three-month-long intensive accelerator programme twice a year for early-stage ventures around the globe. It also hosts a demo day, along with several investors from across the world, to invest in these ventures. The list of summer edition of its biannual cohorts for 2022 includes 19 Indian startups.

In 2022, Y Combinator participated in 23 investment deals of startups such as Kindly, Orange Health, BharatX. 

Antler

Singapore-based Antler entered the Indian market in late 2020. At its launch, the VC firm announced plans to deploy $100 Mn-$150 Mn in more than 100 Indian startups over the next three years.

The sector-agnostic fund launched Antler India Residency, a cohort-based programme, for aspiring entrepreneurs in April 2022. During the year, it participated in 22 deals and invested in a diverse category of startups such as fintech startup Voloplay, crypto-native banking platform Juno, and business skill coaching startup Peakperformer. 

This only includes the most active investors based on their deal participation in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022. Ranking is done based on deal participation recorded in our internal database and Inc42’s annual investor survey. 

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