The Top 44 Most Active Angel Investors Of India For Startups (2018 Updated)

This article is part of our series on the essentials of starting up in India in which we had earlier compiled the Top 15 Accelerators, Top 20 Incubators, CoWorking spaces and Venture Capital firms in India.

Driven by the desire to change things the way they work, entrepreneurs strive to realise the true potential of their business ideas. But, lack of deep pockets and competition from bigger market players is something that kicks the startups out of their road to success. It is these initial times and hardships that startups need a backing. And, this is exactly where Angel Investors come into play.

Angel investors are usually experienced entrepreneurs who themselves have been through the same phase and the ones who understand what it takes to create a billion dollar company out of an Idea. With handsome amounts of money in their pockets and a will to trust others with their finances, these ‘Angels’ step in and provide the initial support and sometimes mentorship that helps startups successfully take over these crucial and challenging times.

As a part of our In Focus: Starting Up In India series, this time we bring to you comprehensive list of active angel investors in India.

Sunil Kalra

Sunil Kalra started his career in exports and later set up a leather apparel manufacturing unit which succeeded and gave him an opportunity to work with global designers. He is now a member on Indian Angel Network as an independent angel investor who has made quite significant investments in microfinance and analytics enterprise but has a bias towards internet startups. He invested in more than 12 startups in 2014 alone.

Educational Qualification: Graduated from University Of Texas at Austin in Marketing and International Trade(1984-1986)

Startups Invested In: TargetingMantra, Instamojo, CultureAlley, Aurality, AdPushup, Frrole, Mobilewalla, Druva, Jigsee, Innoveda, Airwoot, HashCube, Sapience, Wishberry, Crayon Data

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Sharad Sharma

Sharad was the CEO of Yahoo! India R&D before founding BrandSigma and was responsible for emerging markets engineering and several key global products. Sharad is an evangelist for developing technology product businesses in India and leads in efforts to nurture the ecosystem. He was the chair of the NASSCOM Product Forum and is the co-founder of the iSpirt think-tank. He actively mentors startups, and speaks frequently on industry issues.

Educational Qualification: Graduated from Delhi College Of Engineering in Electronic Engineering (1982-1986)

Startups Invested In: Frrole, Mobilewalla, HashCube, Druva Software, Kwench Library Solution, Vayavya Labs, Unbxd, Consure Medical, Aurus Network Infotech Pvt. Ltd

Industries: Consumer Internet, Mobile and SaaS

Rajan Anandan

Rajan Anandan has invested in a large number of startups. The Google India MD’s previous experiences include being a Managing Director at Microsoft India for 2 years and working for Dell India from 2006 to 2008. In 2014, he invested in more than 14 startups.

Educational Qualification: MSc. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering From Stanford University(1991-1992) and BSc. from Massachusetts Institute Of Technology(1987-1991)

Startups Invested In: StepOut, Capillary Technologies, Sourceeasy, 24/7 Techies,TargetingMantra, Instamojo, CultureAlley, Social Cops,MissMalini.com, Socialblood.org, Mobilewalla, POPxo.com

Industries: Internet, Mobile and Saas based startups

Krishnan Ganesh

Krishnan Ganesh is a business executive who is the Chief Executive Officer of TutorVista, an online tutoring company. He and his wife Meena Ganesh invest in around five startups a year and put in $25-250K in each of the startups.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Delhi College of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering(1977-1982) and did Post graduation from IIM-Calcutta in Management(1983-1985)

Startups Invested In: Must See India, SilverPush, HackerEarth, Oximity, Overcart, Browntape, delyver.com, Onlineprasad.com.

Industries: Consumer Internet, Healthcare, Education and Tech Companies

Meena Ganesh

Meena Ganesh is an entrepreneur and CEO of Portea Medical which is a provider of home healthcare services in India. The husband-wife duo has a midas touch which is evident in the four startups where they invested and then successfully exited as well as their angel investments which went on to raise subsequent VC rounds.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Women’s Christian College in Physics Hons.(1980-1983) and Post Graduated from IIM-Calcutta (1983-1985)

Startups Invested In: Must See India, SilverPush, HackerEarth, Oximity, Overcart, Browntape, delyver.com, onlineprasad.com.

Industries: Consumer Internet, Healthcare and SaaS

Ritesh Malik

Ritesh Malik is a doctor by profession but an investor, an Entrepreneur, an Angel Capitalist, a photographer…. you name it. He is driven by his zeal which made him venture into different sectors of business world. After working for 10 months at Ganga Ram hospital, he has not stopped till date. He founded Woodapple Hospitality and ThinkPot, and co-founded AdStuck Consulting and Harvin Academy. In 2014, he invested in about 8 startups.

Educational Qualifications: Did his MBBS from M.G.R. Medical University(2007-2012)

Startups Invested In: RHlvision, Mashinga, Asimov Robotics, SectorQube Technolabs, Bisko Labs, Inc42

Industries: Technology, Hardware

Nikunj Jain

This young fellow claims to understand consumer internet which is advocated by his two much talked about startups frankly.me and inoXapps. Frankly.me is a platform where questions from celebrites can be asked and they will reply via video. His first startup inoxapps develops games and apps for Android and has managed to rake in a large number of downloads. He invested in about 7 startups in 2014 alone.

Educational Qualifications: IIT-Delhi dropout in Textile Technology(2006-2010)

Startups Invested In: Gingr, Piquor, Agatsa, workouttrends.com, Inc42

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Anupam Mittal

Anupam Mittal is the founder and CEO of People Group which owns businesses such as online matrimonial service Shaadi.com, real-estate portal Makaan.com, mobile content and applications company Mauj Mobile and People Pictures. Known for his business acumen and an eye for detail, Mittal is an active angel investor with over 20 investments to date. In 2014 alone he invested in around 8-10 startups.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Boston College(1994-1997).

Startups Invested In: Tushky.com, Olacabs, PrettySecrets, Sapience, Druva Software, Zepo, Peelworks, Taxspanner, Cafe Zoe, Interactive Avenues

Industries: Clean Technology, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Healthcare and SaaS

Kunal Bahl

Kunal Bahl is the co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal.com, which is among India’s leading online marketplaces. He started at Jasper Infotech Ltd in 2007 with a seed amount of INR 40 lakh. After tweaking the business model half a dozen times, he came up with the marketplace model for Snapdeal.com and success followed.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Wharton School of Pennsylvania

Startups Invested In: Tripoto, Tiny Owl, Bewakoof, Gigstart, Olacabs, and Unicommerce

Industries:  Ecommerce and related sectors

Sachin Bansal

Sachin Bansal is the co-founder and CEO of Flipkart.com. He founded the company in 2007 which started as a humble online book store and later ventured into other product categories that proved to be a huge success in our developing country. Earlier, he used to work as a senior software engineer at Amazon, now the archrival of flipkart. Before this, he had worked at techspan as an associate for 5 months.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated From IIT-Delhi in Computer Science(2000-2005)

Startups Invested In: Ather, TouchTalent, Roposo, NewsInShorts, MadRat Games, Spoonjoy

Industries: Technology

Naveen Tewari

Naveen Tewari started mKhoj, a local mobile search firm but later pivoted to a mobile advertising network with a global model which is well known as InMobi. He is also the founder and chairman of India SchoolHouse Fund, a nonprofit enterprise that works to ensure effective delivery of education in poor rural areas of India. He didn’t stop at this and now he uses his spare time to mentor entrepreneurs and invest in startups.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from I.I.T. Kanpur in Mechanical Engineering(1996-2000) and did his MBA from Harvard Business School in General Management(2003-2005)

Startups Invested In: tushky, moneysights, Mettl and LetsVenture

Industries: Internet and Mobile Businesses

Ravi Gururaj

Ravi Gururaj is a member of the  NASSCOM executive council. He recently launched a startup incubator called Frictionless Ventures which is an idea experimentation lab that picks up and incubates ‘ideas’ and ‘concepts’ in the cloud computing, mobility and big data space. He is a top executive at software firm Citrix Systems and also co-founded Harvard Business School Alumni Angels. He invested in about 8 startups in 2014.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from University of Pennsylvania in Economics and Computer Science Engineering(1984-1989) and did his MBA from Harvard Business SChool(1998-1999)

Startups Invested In: GrexIt, Tookitaki, Socialblood.org, Graymatics, PrettySecrets, Gridcentric, Explara, Core Mobile, SyncUsUp, VMLogix, Aurus

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Social Media, Cloud Computing and SaaS

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder of One97 Communications. He made mobile payments familiar to every Indian because of its ease of use and security. Coming from a small town and a hindi medium background, he never let his problems stop him from innovating. He used to live on streets with less than 15 bucks in his pockets and had dreams worth millions which he certainly fulfilled. His energy, knowledge and passion made him bring revolution in telecom infrastructure.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Delhi College of Engineering in Electronics & Communications(1994-1998)

Startups Invested In: Sourceeasy, SilverPush, tushky.com, GrexIt, EduKart, Milaap Social Ventures, iimjobs,Dexetra, AirStream, Wishberg Inc, Signals

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Samir Bangara

Samir Bangara is the CEO and Co-founder of Qyuki.com which is a platform for artists to create content, connect with like-minded people and monetize their creations. He started his career in venture capital with IL&FS Venture corporation and moved on to being an investment banker with Ernst & Young. He joined Indiagames in 2005 as Chief Operating Officer and grew the company which led the sale of the company to The Walt Disney. He led the Disney group in India as Managing Director and left it to join Qyuki.com in 2013

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from University of Mumbai in Bachelor of Commerce and Finance (1993-1995)

Startups Invested In: tushky.com, Overcart, ZAPR, Pokkt, Playblazer, Thrill

Industries: Consumer Internet, Social Games and Development Platforms

Abhishek Rungta

Abhishek Rungta is founder and CEO at Indus Net Technologies, a web development and digital marketing company. He started this company with 50 bucks and now has an annual turnover of INR 40 Cr. Started at a very young age of 19, this commerce student had an interest in technology which made him a frequent visitor of tech expos where he rented a stall and his journey started from there. He has never looked back since then.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from St. Xavier’s College in Bachelor of Commerce(1996-1999) and did his post graduation from University of Bath in Multimedia Technology(1999-2000)

Startups Invested In: Plivo, iimjobs, Azoi Inc., iDubba, Secpanel, Shopo.in, Letsventure, Eduora, CapricornGifting, CarSingh

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Digital Media, Advertising and SaaS

Pallav Nadhani

Pallav Nadhani is the co-founder and CEO of Fusion Charts and RazorFlow and CEO at Collabion, seemingly a serial multi-tasker. He started this company in 2001 at the age of 16 from his bedroom as he found himself dissatisfied with Microsoft Excel’s charting capability while completing his high school assignments. The company is a service provider of data visualization products and owing to its success it was included in NASSCOM EMERGE 50 leaders in 2009.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from University of Calcutta in Bachelor of Commerce(2002-2005) and Post Graduated from University of Edinburgh in Computer Science(2007-2008)

Startups Invested In: Plivo, Azoi Inc., iDubba, Shopo.in, Eduora, CarSingh, CapricornGifting, Cropex, Eduora Technologies.

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Cloud Computing and Ecommerce

Aloke Bajpai

Aloke Bajpai is the CEO and co-founder of ixigo.com which he founded because of his love of travel, history and culture. He started his career at Amadeus in Europe, where he was part of the team that built the world’s first web-based travel agency booking tools. He is a guy who loves to do everything and travelling across the globe made him a big time foodie. His love for  Internet products and Croissants has never ebbed since then.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from IIT Kanpur in Electrical Engineering (1997-2001) and did his MBA from INSEAD (2004-2005)

Startups Invested In: Sourceeasy, SilverPush, HackerEarth, Overcart, Little Eye Labs,iimjobs, Azoi Inc., Autowale, PlayCez, BlueGape, Pokkt, Dogspot.in

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile and Ecommerce

Bhupen Shah

Bhupen Shah is the co-founder and CTO of Sling Media which is a technology company that develops place shifting and Smart TV solutions for consumers and set top box manufacturers. Prior to Sling Media, he co-founded Emuzed Inc. which was focused on mobile multimedia. Furthermore, he was the VP of Product and Technology at RealChip Communications. He also worked at Philips, IBM among others.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from University of Michigan in Computer Engineering (1979-1981)

Startups Invested In: Sift, Doublie, Shoe Lovers, Giraffic, CultureAlley, Woxi Media,Whodini, PowWow, Hachi, Frrole, Vapore, Vuemix, Qikwell, Tydy,GoHachi.com, Snap-Networks

Industries: Invests in Online Startups

Zishaan Hayath

Zishaan Hayath is a tech entrepreneur from Mumbai and co-founder of Toppr.com. He also runs an angel investment club called Powai Lake Ventures. Prior to this, he co-founded Chaupaati, a phone commerce marketplace, that was acquired by Future Bazaar. Earlier, he worked with management consulting firm Opera Solutions in Delhi and New York and FMCG major ITC Ltd in Bangalore.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from IIT Bombay (2000-2004)

Startups Invested In: Olacabs, AdPushup, Housing.com, SquadRun, Shopsense

Industries: Ecommerce, Travel, Mobile, Real Estate and Education

Manish Singhal

Manish Singhal was the founding member at LetsVenture, which is an online platform for startups to raise early stage investment. He is a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor. He is also an active mentor on the CIIE Mentor Edge Panel, Startup Village and Venture Labs. Before starting LetsVenture, he spent years at Motorola as its project manager. He joined Ittiam & Sling Media in their initial stages and helped build world-class products.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from IIT Kanpur in Electrical Engineering (1988-1992)

Startups Invested In: AdPushup, Freshersworld, Apartment Adda, FlipClass, AdSpark, Frrole, Ecosenseworld, India College Search.

Industries: Education, Consumer Internet and Enterprise Software

Sanjay Mehta

Sanjay Mehta is co-founder and CEO of MAIA which is a business intelligence firm and is a well known name in entrepreneur circles. This is Mehta’s third venture; his first venture Bespoke Software Consultancy was a successful business in software but later ventured into other areas when he realised it was not scalable beyond a point. He also founded app development firm Globalware System & Software Solutions and steel trading exchange firm ispatudyog.com. He is an investor member with Mumbai Angels and Venture Nursery.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Shah & Anchor in Electronics (1988-1993) and is an alumnus of Indian School of Business

Startups Invested In: OYO Rooms, PrettySecrets, Klip.in, Talview, Unbxd, OrangeScape, Consure Medical, FabAlley, EcoSense Sustainable Solutions, Poncho.in

Industries: Clean Technology, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software and HealthCare

Indus Khaitan

Indus Khaitan is a senior director at Oracle. He exited his co-founded company Blitzer Mobile in late 2013. Previously he was a part of the seed accelerator The Morpheus where he got hands-on experience in starting companies, product development, technology evangelism and marketing & sales. Prior to Morpheus, he was the CTO of SezWho Inc., a social media infrastructure tools startup. He has held senior management and technology positions at Symantec, Outride (acquired by Google), Guru Worldwide, Mindware/NEC and VeriFone.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Birla Institute of Technology in Computer Science(1992-1996)

Startups Invested In: bounce.io, CirroSecure, Interviewstreet, Sourceeasy, GrexIt, 99tests, Emo2, Practo, Sarga Eco-Fabrics, Phitesla

Industries: Mobile, Ecommerce, HealthCare, Information Technology and SaaS

Anirudh Damani

Anirudh Damani is the owner of Artha Energy Resources which is an advisory firm that is focused on bringing new investment into the renewable power generation industry in India. The company has successfully added over 2Bn kWh worth of energy. He also co-founded Pioneer Energy Resources and exited it in 2012.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Austin College in Economics and Business Administration (2001-2005)

Startups Invested In: InVenture, OYO Rooms, Mobilewalla, Exotel, Rolocule Games, Klip.in, Paletly, Carveniche Technologies, Maximojo, purplle.com, NowFloats

Industries: Clean Technology, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software and B2B

Vikas Taneja

Vikas Taneja is a partner and  managing director with Boston Consulting Group and a leader in BCG’s technology, media and telecommunications practice. Earlier, he worked with the Information Technology Group of McKinsey & Co and as a venture capital associate with Arch Development Corporation where he was involved in assessing and funding early-stage organisations.

Educational Qualifications: Did his MBA with Honours in Economics and Finance from University of  Chicago and received his Bachelors from Stanford University in Computer Systems Engineering.

Startups Invested In: Rapportive, PubNub, Disconnect, Founders Co-op, Coderbuddy, 500 Startups, Modria, Mashery, Refinery29, Inside Social

Industries: Analytics, Social Media, Information Technology and Clean Technology

Ajeet Khurana

Ajeet Khurana is the CEO of IIT Bombay’s SINE from past 5 months. He was a Member of the Board of Directors of Carve Niche Technologies. An active member of Mumbai Angels and also a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, he is known for overcoming financial and operational challenges of running education business networks and can wear the investor’s shoes as well as the entrepreneur’s hat. He is known to invest about ten thousand dollars in eight startups every year.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from University of Mumbai in Computer Engineering(1987-1991) and did his MBA from University of Texas at Austin in Business(1991-1993)

Startups Invested In: Rolocule Games, ShepHertz, Avaz, Carveniche Technologies, Maximojo, United Mobile Apps, Karmic Lifesciences, Carve Niche Technologies Pvt. Ltd., PickMe eSolutions

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Ecommerce and Education

Anand Ladsariya

Anand Ladsariya is the CEO of Everest Flavours Ltd. . He is also involved in various social activities. He is ex-Chairman of CHEMEXCIL, an export promotion organisation established by Ministry of Commerce. Being an active Angel Investor with both Mumbai Angels and Indian Angel Network, he has invested in over 35 startups till date and actively mentors and guides the promoters to reach the next level. He is also a part of the  “Committee on Angel Investment and Early Stage Venture Capital” which is guided by the Vice Chairman of Planning Commission.

Educational Qualifications:  Graduated from Bombay University and did his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Startups Invested In: Traffline, Exclusively.in, Aurality, Dexl, Speakwell, Framebench, Serial Innovation, Asiatic, Morpheus Tritya, Mobiquest, Algorhythm

Industries: Location Based Services, Customer Support Tools, Content Discovery and Web Design

Utsav Somani

Utsav is a young tech and startup enthusiast. He is currently working in his family business and looking after it’s African expansion. He is looking out for new opportunities in Consumer Internet, Robotics, Fin & Edu-tech, Pharma, FMCG & Hi-tech Manufacturing. Startups with high-growth potential, driven by a dedicated team, addressing under-captured market excite him.

Educational Qualifications: Bachelors degree in Information Systems Management from Singapore Management University and a Masters in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from ESADE Business School Barcelona.

Startups Invested In: Testbook, AdpushUp, Zippr, FabBag & Shephertz.

Industries: Consumer Internet, Robotics, Fin & Edu-tech, Pharma, FMCG & Hi-tech Manufacturing.

Steven Sule

Steven Sule is currently a partner at Naste Advisors, a Mumbai-based advisory firm. Prior to this, he worked as an associate Vice President at Euromax Capital. He started his career as an analyst at Yes Bank and went to London in 2011 where he worked in the same profile but at a larger scale.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in Finance(2000-2004) and did his post graduation from Cass Business School in Banking & International Finance(2010-2010)

Startups Invested In: AdPushup, Kwench Library Solution, POSist, Aureus Analytics

Industries: Clean Technology, Consumer Internet & Enterprise Software

Arun Venkatachalam

Arun Venkatachalam is the head of strategy & business development at Murugappa Group, a business conglomerate which is owned and run by Murugappa family. Arun always had an eye for witnessing cataclysmic events related to business which landed him first at Axis Capital where he worked as an analyst. Later, he worked at Lazard as an analyst in Mergers & Acquisitions which made him realise his inner calling and he went on to join the family business.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Lancaster University in Business Studies(2007-2010)

Startups Invested In: Zoom, AdPushup, POSist, Aureus Analytics, Yourbus, Ridgecrest Asia

Industries: Consumer Internet, Health Care, SaaS and Enterprise Software

Sandeep Goenka

Sandeep Goenka is the co-founder and Jt-CEO of Zebpay, which is a Bitcoin mobile wallet that enables bitcoin transactions using mobile number without any hassles. He started the company with the aim of making bitcoin transactions as easy as instant messaging. He is also an active member of Indian Angel Network. He also co-founded Blynk Systems. All his jobs strengthened his inclination towards technology and software which puts him in an apt position as to where he is now.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from NMIMS in Commerce(1994-1996) and also has an Engineering Degree from De Montfort University(1996-1998). He did his MBA from SP Jain Institute of Management in Entrepreneurial Studies.

Startups Invested In: Fab Bag, Wishberry, Aureus Analytics, POSist

Industries: Consumer Internet, Big Data and SaaS

Subhinder Khurana

Subhinder Khurana is the founder and CEO of  Bank Smarts Solutions, which enables banks to plan, manage and analyze cash logistics for optimal cost and customer service.

Previously, he started marketRx India, before it was acquired by Cognizant in a $135Mn transaction in 2007. He served as VP at Cognizant for 4 years. Before joining the VC industry, he was the founder and CTO of EZPower systems, which was acquired in 1998 by Oracle.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from IIT Delhi in Electrical Engineering(1983-1987) and did his MBA from A.B. Freeman School of Business(1987-1989)

Startups Invested In: He has advised/mentored several startups including Druva Software, JustMyNeighbour, Authbridge, and Power2SME. He was also managing investments for the first early stage fund in India, Infinity, which created companies like IndiaBulls, India Games and Avendus.

Industries: Consumer Internet

Ajay Lavakare

Ajay Lavakare serves as Managing Director of Risk Management Solutions. He co founded RMSI Private Limited in 1992 and served as its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. He also served as Senior Vice President of RMS Data Solutions at Risk Management Solutions Inc. Prior to co-founding RMSI, he worked for two years as a software engineer with Kumagai Gumi Co. Ltd., in the company’s Information Systems division and in its Overseas Construction Contract Management division..

Educational Qualifications: Graduation from IIT Delhi in Civil Engineering(1983-1987) and has an MS from Stanford University in Structural Engineering(1987-1989)

Startups Invested In: InnovAccer

Industries: Big Data Analytics

Bhanu Chopra

Bhanu Chopra started his career at Deloitte Consulting serving several Fortune 500 companies in Chicago. He is currently the CEO of RateGain, a company he founded in 2004. Prior to setting up RateGain, he co-founded Riv Consulting. He started RateGain in response to the increasing popularity of Online travel agencies like Expedia and Orbitz in the west, when he identified the business need of these OTAs to compare rates across their competitor websites.

Educational Qualifications: Has a double bachelors degree in Computer Science and Finance from Indiana University

Startups Invested In: Interview Master, HotelsAroundYou, Mozio

Industries: Travel Technology, Big Data Analytics and Cloud Computing

Girish Mathrubootham

Girish Mathrubootham is founder and CEO of Freshdesk which is a cloud-based customer support platform that enables companies to provide customer service. The company was inspired from a comment on a Hacker News Post in 2010 which made him leave his job at AdventNet where he worked for 9 years.

Educational Qualifications: Did his Engineering in Electronics from Shanmugha Research Academy(1992-1996) and MBA from University of Madras in Marketing(1996-1998).

Startups Invested In: ChargeBee, Kaalibi Technologies, Turing Research, ShieldSquare and Advises Niche Video Media, NicheTrainings, germ.io, Flourish, Frilp

Industries: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software and SaaS

Amit Somani

Amit Somani is an Advisory Board Member and Chief Products Officer for MakeMyTrip, heading the online product portfolio along with User Experience and Content. He has worked with Google and IBM where he was the head of Mobile Products for Google in Asia-Pacific region and Director for the Enterprise Search and Discovery business at IBM based out of California.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from IIT Varanasi in Computer Science(1989-1993) Engineering and did his MS in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin(1993-1995)

Startups Invested In: Advises Phone Warrior Inc, Qikwell Technologies India, MindTickle, HotelTravel.com and Ixigo.com

Industries: Consumer Internet and Mobile Companies

Niraj Singh

Niraj is the founder of OutBox Ventures and an active angel investor. In his previous role Niraj founded and sold Locus Educational Pvt. Ltd.

Educational Qualifications: IIT Delhi Passout (2007)

Startups Invested In: ShaadiSaga, Tripoto, Grownout and others

Industries: Consumer Internet

Vivek Bihani

Vivek Bihani is the CEO at Bedrock Ventures. Earlier, he worked at ICICI Ventures which included generating deal flow, evaluating business plans, structuring deals and making equity investments; adding value to investments by helping investee companies recruit senior executives. As an entrepreneur, he has helped drive the growth at Magic Software Private Limited, an eLearning company that helps global publishers build education software products.

Educational Qualifications: Graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Chemical Engineering(1983-1987) and did his MBA from IIM-Bangalore in Business Management(1990-1992)

Startups Invested In: MyRefers, Nearify

Industries: Mobile

Ankur Warikoo

Ankur is the Head of Groupon India and an angel Investor in Internet and Technology Startups. He was also co-founder at Accentium Web (Gaadi.com SecondShaadi.com)

Educational Qualifications: MBA Graduate from the Indian School of Business and Master’s of Science from Michigan State University

Startups Invested In: Targeting Mantra, Limetray among others.

Industries: Internet and Technology Startups

Ratan N. Tata

Ratan N Tata has been the Chairman of Tata Sons, the promoter holding company of the Tata group, since 1991. He is also the Chairman of the major Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices. During his tenure, the group’s revenues have grown manifold, totalling over $83 Bn in 2010-11.

He also serves on the board of directors of Alcoa  along with being on the international advisory boards of Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls Royce, Temasek Holdings and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Educational Qualification: He is an alumnus of Harvard University and Cornell University.

Startups Invested In: Ola, Paytm, Snapdeal, Ampere, Swasth India, Blue Stone, FirstCry, YourStory, Urban Ladder, Crayon Data, CarDekho, Kaaryah, Zivame, Abra, CashKaro, HolaChef, Lybrate, Infinite Analytics, Tracxn, Altaeros, Xiaomi, Ampere, Sabsebolo, Dogspot, The Print, TeaBox, Kyazoonga, MUrgency,  Plutus Financial,

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Mohandas Pai

T.V. Mohandas Pai is the Chairman of Manipal Global Education (Manipal University) and the cofounder of Aarin Capital. He was a former director of Infosys and Head – Administration, Education and Research, Financial, Human Resources of Infosys Leadership Institute. As the CFO, he played a strategic role in transforming Infosys into one of the world’s most respected and widely known software services companies. He formulated the country’s first publicly articulated financial policy for the company. He played a key role in branding the company among the investor community and enhancing transparency and disclosure levels.

He was also a member of the Kelkar Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, for reforming direct taxes, the Non-Resident Taxation Committee, the High Powered Committee on e-Commerce and Taxation. He served as a member of the Board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) from September 12 to July 16. He was a member of the Empowered Committee for setting up the Tax Information Network of the Government of India. He also works with the Union Government and state governments in the fields of education, IT and business.

Educational Qualification: He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and Law Graduate From Bangalore University

Startups Invested In:  Zoomcar, Tripfactory, OnlineTyari, YourStory, Justdoc, Mad Street Den, Velvet case, Switch Me, Tracxn, KAARYAH, Ginger Crush, Licious, KleverKid, Baunat, AlmaConnect, Magic Crate

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Kunal Shah

Kunal Shah is an Indian entrepreneur, founder and ex-CEO of FreeCharge. He started his career as a junior programmer at a business process outsourcing startup. Shah’s first startup venture was a company named Paisaback, which provided cash-back promotions for organised retailers.

Shah founded FreeCharge in 2010, along with Sandeep Tandon. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal for an estimated amount of $450 Mn. Later in 2017, FreeCharge got acquired by Axis bank for $60 Mn.

Kunal Shah is also known among the startuppers for his Delta 4 theory which states, “Before implementing an idea, one must make sure that the business will be at least Δe = 4 to make it BragWorthy.”

Shah is now working as an advisor to Sequoia Capital and is also looking to start his new venture.

Education Qualification: He holds a degree in B.A. Philosophy, from Wilson College, Mumbai

Startups Invested In:  Avail Finance, Zipo, Spinny, Innov8, Unacademy, Pocket Aces, Bharat Bazaar, ShaadiSaga, DailyNinja, Twigly, Flyrobe, Voonik, Pianta, Razorpay, Lif Care, Dil Mil

Industries: Sector Agnostics

Kris Gopalakrishnan

Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, popularly known as Kris Gopalakrishnan, is 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. He was elected as the President of India’s apex industry chamber, the Confederation of Indian Industry for the year 2013-14. In 2014, Gopalakrishnan co-founded Axilor Ventures, a venture capital platform for young entrepreneurs.

In 2011, Government of India awarded him with Padma Bhushan which is India’s third highest civilian honour.

Education Qualification: He holds a degree in M.Sc. (Physics) and M. Tech. (Computer Science) from IIT, Madras

Startups Invested In: HungerBox, Planys Technologies, Crayon Data Unbxd, Acko General Insurance, Sigtuple, Verloop, FirstCry, GoCoop, Ampere, MagicX, LookUp, BuyHatke, FreshWorld

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Nandan Nilekani

Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nandan Nilekani was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of the board effective August 24, 2017.

He was also the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). As the then Chairman of the UIDAI, he was responsible for implementing the envisioned Multipurpose National Identity Card or Unique Identity Card (UID Card) project in India.

He is a member of the board of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the President of NCAER. He also sits on several advisory boards, including those of the World Economic Forum Foundation and the Bombay Heritage Fund. He is also the author of the book titled, Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation.

In July 2017, he announced that he will not invest in new startups and will continue investing in his current investments as an angel. However, he launched a $100 Mn VC fund Fundamentum along with Sanjeev Aggarwal to invest into startups.

Education Qualification: He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai.

Startups Invested In: Power2SME, Printline Media, ShopX, RailYatri, Drishti Eye care, SEDEMAC, Tracxn, LetsVenture, Mubble

Industries: Sector Agnostic

Sandeep Tandon

Sandeep Tandon co-founded FreeCharge in 2010 along with Kunal Shah. The startup is now part of the Axis Bank. Currently, he serves as the Managing Director at Tandon Technology Ventures (Tandon Group). He also serves as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board at Infinx Services Private Limited.

He oversees the strategy and operations of all group companies. He has been involved in the technology industry for over 20 years. During this time, he has contributed significantly to the growth of Information Technology exports from India. He was co-founder and a former director of IQBackOffice – a leading Accounts Payable Processing company.

He is active in the Angel Investor community and serves as a mentor to various technology startups. He served as the Chairman of the Electronics Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) and is a member of Young President Organisation (Mumbai Chapter).

Education Qualification: He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Startups Invested In: Spinny, Unacademy, PocketAces, Bharat Bazaar, Gold VIP, Shadisaga, Remitware, Flyrobe

Industries: Sector Agnostic

This list is compiled on the basis of the details of the investments and investors that were publicly available and that surfaced in our research. We will keep on updating this lists with more investors as we get inputs from the ecosystem.

If we missed out on any, do let us know in the comments below.

We’ll keep adding more to this list

This is part of our special series, In Focus: Starting Up In India, in which we focus on the essentials every entrepreneur must know about starting up in India. Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of startup incubators in India coming later this week. 

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