SUMMARY
From unicorn founders to corporate honchos, India's leading angel investors come from all sectors and backgrounds. Here are the leading ones that have made a mark on the Indian startup ecosystem
This article on the most active angel investors in India compiled by Inc42 based on investments made between January 2014 and October 2019. It is not meant to be a ranking of any kind and is simply a list of angel investors that are the most active based on the deals announced. For a look back at the major talking points of the year, check out the Inc42 2019 In Review section.
The angel investment landscape in India has significantly changed over the last decade. The number of deals and the average ticket size has improved tremendously, along with the ease of investment for both startups and angels.
From less than 50 angel investors a decade back, the Indian startup ecosystem has recorded angel investments from more than 2,000+ angel investors.
An earlier analysis of DataLabs by Inc42 based on 2014-2017 funding data showcased that the total number of angels who participated in the Indian startup ecosystem during that period i.e. 1,777, over 1410 made just a single deal and about 192 have made two. This figure came along with 175 angels who participated in three or more deals.
Thereby taking the list of active angel investors that have backed more than 10 startups to a few hundred in number.
With the rise in the number of startups, availability of resources to smoothly sail the startup ship, Indian ecosystem is growing like never before. Here are the some of the most active angels in the Indian startup ecosystem.
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Sanjay Mehta
No. of Startups Funded: 103Key Sectors: Sector AgnosticLocation: MumbaiKey Investments: LogiNext, Wow! Momos, FabAlley (exited), Box8, OYO (Exited), PrettySecrets, FabAlleyFounder and Partner at an early stage venture fund 100X.VC, Sanjay Mehta is an entrepreneur and angel investor, who has angel invested in 103 startup companies spread across sectors. He has also been a part of Mehta Ventures Family office and a director at CORE (Centre of Recognition and Excellence).
Mehta was an active member of Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures & CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery. Now, Mehta invests exclusively through the iSAFE note (India Simple Agreement for Future Equity). Mehta recently funded 20 startups through 100X.VC using iSAFE notes. Mehta’s portfolio also includes OYO, where he got 280 times the returns while exiting.
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Abhishek Bhatewara
No. of Startups Funded: 9Key Sectors: Real Estate, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: BengaluruKey Investment: FalconBrick, Meetingsandoffices.com, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurposeAbhishek Bhatewara is currently the business head of Bengaluru-based Rohan Builders and the director at cleantech Clique Solar. He has previously served as a managed at MacquarieBank, based in Sydney. As an investor, he is a part of Mumbai Angels — an Indian angel investment network.
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Anand Govindaluri
No. of Startups Funded: 55Key Sectors: Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: SingaporeKey Investment: LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, MinocularDr Anand Govindaluri is the founder and CEO of Govin Capital, a Singapore-based early-stage investment company. He has also founded Govin Capital, a technology accelerator focused on digital health and technology. He has had over 22 years experience in healthcare and over 19 years of experience in investment management in the healthcare and technology sectors. Govindaluri has had 17 exits till now, and 2 unicorn exits.
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Anoop Mathur
No. of Startups Funded: 8Key Sectors: Consumer Services, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investment: Aadhaar API, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle SystemsAnoop Mathur is the president of CORE Media (Centre of Recognition & Excellence). Anoop has also founded CIO Angel Network and B2B 1K Ventures to boost and invest in early-stage tech startups. He has had professional experience in the healthcare, insurance, financial services, BPO and IT-enabled services business verticals. Mathur has held senior positions in organisations such as Prudential, Capita, ICICI OneSource and United Healthcare.
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Bharat Banka
No. of Startups Funded: 8Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investment: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, MinocularBharat Banka is a founder and CEO of the Aditya Birla Group and has also set up Aditya Birla Private Equity (ABPE) in 2009. Bharat has is currently working as an Advisor at Sterlite Technologies ltd, a digital technology multinational company. He has a diverse experience of working over 23 years in running businesses, strategy, principal investing, post-merger integration and capital market. Bharat has also served as an advisor at TVS Capital Fund for a brief period.
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Devesh Chawla
No. of Startups Funded: 7Key Sector: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investments: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, MinocularDevesh Chawla is a mentor and investor, who has worked with hundreds of startups including crowdfunding platform Catapooolt, pre-sales platform Strike, digital trading app Market Pulse and many more. Chawla also runs entrepreneurship programs across colleges and startups along with Ajeet Khurana, former CEO of IIT Incubation centre SIN. Devesh is also the founder and CEO at Chatur Ideas.
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Dishit Shah
No. of Startups Funded: 7Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investments: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, MinocularDishit Shah is working at Artha India Ventures as an Investment associate overlooking 60 portfolio companies and scouting for early age investment. The company’s aim is to expand its portfolio to 100 companies in 3-5 years. Previously, Shah has worked at the Bank of America as an Analyst with the Mergers and Acquisition team. Dishit has over seven years of experience across various segments like early stage investing, equity research, strategic advisory, accountancy, statutory and internal accounting and tax.
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Gagan Gupta
No. of Startups Funded: 7Key Sectors: Real Estate, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: Hyderabad, TelanganaKey Investment: Meetingsandoffices.com, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle SystemsCofunders, Kyt Ventures, Gagan Gupta is an angel investor and a serial-entrepreneur. He has been deeply involved in the startup ecosystem for 16 years as an expert panelist, jury member, mentor and advisor. Gagan also provides his expertise to various institutions, incubators and accelerators. Currently, he is also a venture investor at Rajasthan Angel Innovators Network (RAIN) and member of TIE Rajasthan.
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Sharan Aggarwal
No. of Startups Funded: 8Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investment: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, MinocularThe CEO and cofounder of Delta3D, Aggarwal is a Cass alumni and has been associated with Lead Angels and Mumbai Angels Network. His investments are known to be sector-agnostic and recent deals involve SaaS, fintech, healthtech, and F&B among others. His startup Delta3D manufactures clip-on 3D glasses for cinemagoers, targeting those who wear powered glasses.
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Siddharth Ladsariya
No. of Startups Funded: 100+Key Sector: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investment: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, Minocular, Symphony, Shunya O/SSiddharth Ladsariya started angel investing in the year 2008. Today, he has a portfolio of over 100+ startups in India, Singapore and the USA. He believes that startups should concentrate on team-building, continuous fundraising and aim to become self-sufficient through growth and sales. He is also a founding member of YVO -Young Volunteers Organization (www.yvorg.in). YVO’s objective is to make a difference by collecting a significant corpus of small donations on a monthly basis in a time-efficient and effortless manner So far, YVO.org has donated over INR 1 Cr to over 43+ organisations and sustainable causes.
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Tufail Khan
No. of Startups Funded: 7Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: Mumbai, MaharashtraKey Investment: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, Minocular, Symphony, Shunya O/CTufail Khan is the cofounder of online auto classifieds platform Carwale, which was acquired by its competitor CarTrade for somewhere around $90 Mn in November 2015. Tufail is a marketing professional and has worked in online and offline advertising in firms like Automotive Exchange and Veracious Solutions. He also business development and operations.
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VC Karthic
No. of Startups Funded: 7Key Sector: Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Enterprise Application, Entertainment Tech, AI and Big DataLocation: MumbaiKey Investment: Faaya, LegitDoc, TravelShelf, Giscle Systems, rePurpose, Minocular, Symphony, Shunya O/SAs serial entrepreneur, VC Karthic has so far launched six ventures — two folded, two sold, while two others are on hold. Currently, the founder of Buzzworks, a contracted payroll & contact centre technology services platform, he is looking to solve hard problems at scale using technology.
As Karthic has said earlier, “Along with innovative technology and good market opportunity, the quality, commitment and integrity of the founders and the team was among the factors that struck a chord with all the investors.”
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Binny Bansal
No. of Startups Funded: 27Key Sectors: Edtech, Hardware & IoT, Entertainment Tech, Healthtech, Real Estate, Ecommerce, Consumer Services, AI and Big Data, , Fintech, Logistics, Enterprise ServicesLocation: SingaporeKey Investment: Ather Energy, Inshorts, Roposo, Unacademy, Purple Style Labs, GreyOrangeAfter Binny Bansal exited from Flipkart under controversial circumstances in 2018, he has taken to angel investing more aggresively. Bansal continued his entrepreneurial journey along with former McKinsey consultant Saikiran Krishnamurthy to launch his new venture — XTo10X.
As a parting gift from Flipkart, he got $100 Mn as part of an early exit deal with US-based retail giant Walmart. In June this year, he reportedly sold more of his Flipkart stake to Walmart for almost $76.4 Mn. Seems like we can expect Bansal to invest more in 2019.
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Sachin Bansal
No. of Startups Funded: 25+Key Sectors: Edtech, Hardware & IoT, Entertainment Tech, Enterprise Application, Healthtech, Real Estate, Transport, Consumer Services,Location: BengaluruKey Investment: MadRat Games, Ather Energy, Inshorts, NewsInShorts, Tracxn, trueHb, Plabro, SigTuple, Intelligent Interfaces, Unacademy, Ola, Ola Electric, MilkbasketFormer Amazon executive, Sachin Bansal, had partnered with Binny Bansal founded Flipkart in 2007. Just like Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal also turned to investment more aggressively after Flipkart’s acquisition by Walmart.
In December 2018, Bansal along with his friend Ankit Agarwal registered BAC Acquisitions Pvt Ltd (now Navi Technologies) in Bengaluru with the vision of developing platforms which can optimise business automation and enable digitisation of processes across sectors.
A few months ago, Bansal announced the acquisition of Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services Private Limited (CRIDS), a non-banking finance company (NBFC) in a deal worth $104 Mn. With this, Bansal took over as the CEO of CRIDS.
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Kunal Shah
No. of Startups Funded: 27Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Entertainment Tech, Enterprise Application, Healthtech, Consumer Services, Fintech, Edtech, Real Estate,Location: MumbaiKey Investment: Flyrobe, DailyNinja, Unacademy, CrownIt, Innov8, Cred, TapChiefAn MBA dropout from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Kunal Shah comes from a business family and was naturally inclined towards startups. Shah founded Freecharge in 2010 along with Sandeep Tandon and in April 2015, Freecharge was acquired by Snapdeal for around $400 Mn. Meanwhile, Shah also had a small stint and Sequoia. Since 2018 then Shah has been working on credit card rewards app Cred and has been one of the busiest angel investors in India.
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Ritesh Malik
No. of Startups Funded: 48Key Sectors: Sector agnostic, but focuses on content, robotics, nanotech, health tech, real estate tech, SAASLocation: Delhi Key Investment: MyChild, Babygogo, PumpKart, WittyFeed, Leverage Edu, StyleDotMe, DockablDoctor by profession, Ritesh Malik has founded innov8 coworking in 2015, which was later acquired by OYO for INR 220 Cr in July this year. Ritesh has also founded Woodapple Hospitality and ThinkPot, and co-founded AdStuck Consulting and Harvin Academy. In terms of investment experience, he has been investing in indian startups from more than 5 years. In 2015, Malik started Project Guerrilla, a startup accelerator, based in Delhi.
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Mekin Maheshwari
No. of Startups Funded: 12Key Sectors: Entertainment Tech, Enterprise Application, Edtech, Enterprise Services, Online Travel, Healthtech, EcommerceLocation: BengaluruKey Investment: Aisle, Hansel.io, Docwise, Purple Quarter, Crio, TapChief, Urban ClapFounder of Udhyam.org and CoFounder of Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), Mekin Maheshwari has taken up the role of an angel investor since three years. Through, Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) Maheshwari plans to 10 Mn mass entrepreneurs to create 50 Mn Mn jobs by 2030. Previously, Mekin had joined Flipkart in 2009 has the Head of Engineering and later he became the Chief People Officer of Flipkart in 2013. However, he quit the company in 2016.
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Rajat Gupta
No. of Startups Funded: 4Key Sectors: Logistics, Consumer Services, Enterprise ServicesLocation: New YorkKey Investments: Rivigo, Zappka, Teamonk Global, DockablGupta was most famously the first foreign-born managing director of McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003. He has continued to back tech startups even after stepping down from McKinsey amid insider trading controversy. Premium tea brand Teamonk Global raised $1 Mn in Pre-series A funding round led by Gupta and Roots Ventures in April this year. He also invested in the pre-series A funding round of $1.26 Mn in employee experience platform Dockabl.
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Ramakant Sharma
No. of Startups Funded: 10Key sectors: Consumer Services, Logistics, Ecommerce, Enterprise Application, Real Estate, FintechLocation: BengaluruKey Investment: Zooty, TruckMandi, Pitstop, Fynd, Shop101, BuildSupply, ZunRoofRamakant Sharma has over 11 years of experience in software product development, product management, entrepreneurship and online marketing. He has cofounded two platforms — Bengaluru-based Zing Ecommerce and online interior design and renovation platform Livspace.
Zing Ecommerce was incorporated in 2011 and Livspace in 2015, along with Anuj Srivastava. Previously, Ramakant has also has served as an operating partner Jungle Ventures and the vice president of engineering at ecommerce website Myntra.
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Ravi Garikipati
No. of Startups Funded: 4Key Sectors: Healthtech, AI and Big Data, Edtech, EcommerceLocation: BengaluruKey Investment: CareonGO, VideoKen, Crio, RapawalkRavi Garikipati started his career in 1988 and is a software industry veteran. He has served as CTO and head of fintech at Flipkart and an on the advisory board at ICICI Lombard. Currently, he is also an investor and an investor at Emergent Ventures, and the cofounder and CEO at an NBFC, Davinta Financial Services.
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Alok Mittal
No. of Deal: 16 Key Sectors: Consumer Services, Edtech, Transport, Healthtech, Fintech, Online TravelLocation: Gurgaon, HaryanaKey Investments: Bite Club, Cuelearn, Drivezy, Baxi-Fresh, Wysa, LifCare, Touchkin,Alok Mittal is the CEO of Indifi, a platform to expand access to debt financing for SMEs. Mittal is also a founding member of Indian Angel Network. In his previous stints, he was the managing director at Indian operations of US based venture capital firm Canaan Partners. During his tenure, Canaan Partners invested in AdNear and WibiData.
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Anupam Mittal
No. of Startups Funded: 50+Key Sectors: Edtech, Enterprise Application, Consumer Services, Entertainment Tech, Ecommerce, Logistics, Online Travel, Transport, Fintech, Healthtech, Hardware & IoT, Adtech, Real EstateLocation: MumbaiKey Investments: Flintobox, ZapStitch, Whatfix, InstaLively, InnerChef, DailyNinja, @(AT)Anupam Mittal started his entrepreneurial career with People Group, which manages businesses such as Shaadi.com, Makaan.com and Mauj Mobile. The group is recognised as one of the most innovative enterprises in the country. Previously, he has also worked as a product manager at MicroStrategy. He is an active angel investor with over 50 investments in companies like Ola Cabs, Druva and Pretty Secrets.
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Girish Mathrubootham
No. of Startups Funded: 20+Key Sectors: Ecommerce, Enterprise Application, Fintech, Enterprise Services, Edtech, Entertainment Tech, Consumer Services, Transport, Real Estate, Logistics, Online TravelLocation: Chennai, Tamil NaduKey Investments: LetsVenture, MadRat Games, CrownIt, Innov8, The Ken, Whatfix, Josh talks, FactorDailyGirish Mathrubootham founded SaaS unicorn Freshworks in 2010. Previously, he has worked as the Vice President of Product Management at ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corp. There, he used to oversee product marketing, product management and customer support. As an investor, Mathrubootham has had 6 exits from companies like coworking and shared space provider Innov8 Coworking, cybersecurity platform Shield Square and marketing software startup Zarget.
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Kunal Bahl
No. of Startups Funded: 29+Key Sectors:Online Travel, Consumer Services, Transport, Ecommerce, Enterprise Services, Edtech, Enterprise Application, Logistics, Fintech, HealthtechLocation: New DelhiKey Investments:CredR, Bewakoof, UrbanClap, LetsVenture, Fynd, SnapdealKunal Bahl cofounded ecommerce website Snapdeal in 2010. He has worked in companies like Deloitte Consulting and Microsoft in the US. Till now, he has had 4 exits. These companies include data analytics firm Zenatix, ecommerce platform Gigstart, fashion shopping platform Fynd and content production platform Betaout. Kunal, along with Snapdeal cofounder Rohit Bansal, set up an investment vehicle Titan Capital, earlier this year.
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Ratan Tata
No. of Startups Funded: 30Key Sectors: Mobility, Cleantech, Consumer services, FintechLocation: Mumbai, MaharashtraKey Investments: Urbanladder, Paytm, Ola, LetsVenture, UrbanClap, ThePrint, Ola ElectricRatan Tata has been a part of the Tata Group since 1962. He became the chairman of Tata Industries in 1981. He started Tata Trust in 2017 both as a social impact fund as well as a business incubator. The fund has invested in more than two dozen companies across businesses.
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Vijay Shekhar Sharma
No. of Startups Funded: 50+Key Sectors: Fintech, Consumer Services, Media & EntertainmentLocation: New DelhiKey Investments: Flintobox, GOQii, BetaOut, InnerChef, Intelligent Interfaces, Tapchief, FactorDaily, Remitware Payments, Unacademy, Innov8, The Ken, Nurturing GreenVijay Shekhar Sharma founded One97 Communications and Paytm in 2010 He was ranked as India’s youngest billionaire in 2017 by Forbes. He has previously worked as the CTO Startec Global Systems and Tech head at India Today.
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Sonali Thapar
No. of Startups Funded: 20+Key Sectors: F&B, Education, Energy, Gaming, FinTech.Location: New DelhiKey Investments: GetMyParking, Carbon Masters, Witlinger, Innov8, Cubical Labs, Inc42, Biryani by KiloSonali Thapar took charge of the investment arm of the Thapar Group — Thapar Capital — in 2015. As the Director, Sonali has made strategic investments in both debt and equity, stocks, mutual funds and real estate. Prior to this, Sonali has worked with the Ministry of External Affairs. Sonali believes in mentoring and funding startups that could align with the Thapar groups’ business interests, and also address a need in the ecosystem.
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Apurva Chamaria
No. of Startups Funded: 20Key Sectors: Location: New DelhiKey Investments: Inc42, Innov8, Chqbook, Josh TalksApurva Chamaria is currently working as the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at SaaS company RateGain and Charter Member at TIE Delhi. Previously, he was the Vice President and head of corporate marketing at HCL Technologies and business managers Ranbaxy Laboratories. Apurva has written two bestsellers “You are the key- Unlocking doors through social selling” and “Master Growth Hacking: The Best-Kept Secret of New Age Indian Startups.”
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Abhishek Rungta
No. of Startups Funded: 25Key Sectors: SaaS, Enterprise software, Digital, AnalyticsLocation: Kolkata, West BengalKey Investments: Plivo, CropIn, Aureus AnalyticsAbhishek Rungta is the founder and CEO of Indus Net Solution. He founded the company back in 1997 and it a digital strategy consulting and offshore outsourcing company, which provides its services to digital agencies, enterprises and governments. He has also set up Indus Net Academy to bridge the gap between academic education and professional demand. He has also cofounded EnergyTech Ventures.
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Rajesh Sawhney
No. of Startups Funded: 77Key Sectors: SaaS, Health Tech, ConsumerLocation: Kolkata, West BengalKey Investments: Little Eye Labs (acquired by Facebook), Whatfix, Daily Rounds, Instalively and DocsappRajesh Sawhney is a serial entrepreneur, who founded (and cofounded) Times Internet, Reliance Entertainment, GSF Accelerator and GSF Superangels and InnerChef. GSF is a tech-startup accelerator programme founded in 2012. Moreover, Rajesh had introduced private radio, Times FM, to the Indian audience in the early nineties. He also led the biggest investment deal between Hollywood and Bollywood, Dreamworks.
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Rohit Chokhani
No. of Startups Funded: 30 (in last five year)Key Sectors: B2C & Services Industry, Financial Impact, Food & Beverages, AI Deeptech, PropTech, Media & Content Location: Mumbai, MaharashtraKey Investments: Drivezy, Aisle, RoutofyRohit Chokhani is the managing director of Easy Home Finance and Nominee Director at Azuro.in. He is also a shareholder in real estate company Lakshachandi Group, public-private Revelador India and foodtech Swadeshi India food. He has an extensive educational background with masters a bachelors’ degree in Finance and a masters in construction management, from Europe. He also has an experience of working in UK’s financial service sector.
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Mridul Upreti
No. of Startups Funded: 16Key Sectors: Prop-tech, News & MediaLocation: New DelhiKey Investments: StayAdobe, FalconBrick, NewsBytesMridul Upreti defines himself as a “Real Estate, Technology Evangelist and Investor”. He has served as the SEO of the segregated fund group and Jt. Managing director at JLL. Real estate, asset management, and portfolio management are some of his areas of expertise.
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Anuj Munot
No. of Startups Funded: 65Key Sectors: AgnosticLocation: Mumbai MaharashtraKey Investments: NewsBytes, Inc42,A Chartered Accountant (CA) by qualification, Anuj Munot is currently the commercial director at real estate developer Kalpataru limited. He joined Kalpataru in 2002 and his inclination towards business helped the company explore more avenues and sectors. He is also a member of the Built World Technology alliance, Venture Catalysts, Inflection Point Ventures, LetsVenture, Startup Network and Indian Angel Network.
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Anand Chandrasekaran
No. of Startups Funded: 50Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: San Francisco, USKey Investments: – Khatabook, EkAnek, Upekkha (accelerator), Dealshare.in, Oye Rickshaw, InVideo, Fiddler.ai (US)Anand Chandrasekaran is currently working in EVP (engineering, procurement and construction) position at Five9. Anand has also worked on five lease products globally with over 10 Mn users across omni channels of various sectors — communication, commerce, financial services and content.
Previously, Anand cofounded Aeroprise Inc, which was acquired by BMS software in 2009. Later, he served as a director of a platform for Messenger at Facebook and CPO at Snapdeal.
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Hiro Mashita
No. of Startups Funded: 50+Key Sectors: Fintech, Healthtech, Agritech, Consumer ServiceLocation: SingaporeKey Investments: Faircent, Healofy, Ninjacart, Silverpush, Cashify, Primaseller, GigIndiaHiro Mashita is the founder and director of M&S Partners, which is a Japanese Investment firm. The company has recently invested in India-based women and parenting-focussed social networking platform Healofy. As an angel investor, he forces on startups based in India, Japan, China, Singapore, US, and other Asian countries.
Hiro has played different business roles in his work life. He has headed startups, venture capital, internet businesses, corporate planning, distribution channel in Japan and New York, US.
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Aniruddha Malpani
No. of Startups Funded: 12+Key Sectors: HealthtechLocation: Mumbai, MaharashtraKey Investments: AllizHealth, Plus91 Technologies, VdoCipher, MultiBhashiDoctor-turned investor, Aniruddha Malpani is a director and founder at Mumbai-based Malpani Ventures, which specially focuses on early stage startups. He has also served as a director at venture capital firm Solidarity Investment Advisors and was a member at TIE Mumbai. In terms of angel investing, Aniruddha has been on Bengaluru-based Evobi and Mumbai Angels. As a doctor, he is an In vitro fertilisation (IVF) specialist.
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Amit Gupta
No. of Startups Funded: 30Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: Bengaluru, KarnatakaKey Investments: Healthifyme, Razorpay, Wooplr, MyChild, BharatBazaarCofounder and CEO of Yulu, Amit Gupta also cofounded InMobi in 2017. Previously, he has worked at Mobile Marketing Association, Analyticsworks and Citifinancial India. InMobi was one of the “50 Most Disruptive Companies” according to MIT Technology Review. In addition, it was named as the “Outstanding Startup of the year” by Forbes India Leadership Award, 2014. Outside of InMobi, Amit is an angel investor and mentors entrepreneurs on the various aspects of running a startup.
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Amit Ranjan
No. of Startups Funded: 10Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: New DelhiKey Investments:Tracxn, WishberryAmit Ranjan is currently working as an architect with the National Digital Locker Project, under union ministry of information technology (IT). He has also worked on the OpenForge Project, an Indian government’s initiative to build a national software source code sharing platform. Previously, he has worked at PepsiCo, Asian Paints, and Godrej & Boyce. As an entrepreneur, Amit cofounded Slideshare in 2004. The company was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012.
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Bhavish Aggarwal
No. of Startups Funded: 10+Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: Bengaluru, KarnatakaKey Investments: Avail Finance, OfBusiness, Tork MotorscyclesIIT-Bombay graduate, Bhavish Aggarwal is famously known to have cofounded Indian cab hailing service Ola in 2010. He started his career with Microsoft. In March 2019, Bhavish set up a new electric vehicle service called Ola Electric Mobility. By July, the company managed to enter the unicorn club, with $4.2 Bn SoftBank investment.
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Aneesh Reddy
No. of Startups Funded: 9Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: Bengaluru, KarnatakaKey Investments: Skillenza, Whatflix,EasyEcom, JustLikeNewAneesh Reddy is the cofounder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at a SaaS solutions company Capillary Technologies. Previously, he has also worked with ITC limited and is an IIT Kharagpur graduate. Aneesh is a featured expert in various segments — global retail, marketing, and technology forums. With the aim to create a sustained product ecosystem in India, Aneesh works closely with acclaimed institutions.
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Ankit Nagori
No. of Startups Funded: 5Key Sectors: Agnostic Location: Bengaluru, KarnatakaKey Investments: Groww, Doubtnut, Blinge, RapidoJoined in 2010. Ankit Nagori quit Flipkart in 2016 along with Mukesh Bansal. In 2016, Ankit and Mukesh Bansal founded health and wellness startup Cure.fit. Previously, Ankit has worked for social media startup Youthpad and ESCP Europe.
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Arjun Rao
No. of Startups Funded: 20Key Sector: Tech and tech-enabled businessesLocation: Bengaluru, KarnatakaKey Investment: Murdex, Vogo (exited), CheckGaadi (exited)Other key investments: Mudrex (YC backed)Arjun Rao is a general partner at Speciale Invest, a seed stage micro venture capital investment firm. He has more than 15 years of experience in the technology and internet startup ecosystem in India. He has cofounded TravelYaari and has worked in product development, product management, digital marketing at growth stage companies such as ibibo Web and Yahoo Inc.
