Angel investors for startups are immensely growing popular in India as well as throughout the world. They are extremely affluent, have an extensive experience in the startup market, and invest in exchange for brand equity. Various angel investors in India are well-known and reputed. However, not all angel investors are the same, so it’s important to do your research to ensure you’re picking the best one for your company.
A few factors to consider- are their investment strategy and whether they prefer to participate in early-stage firms or invest in companies that have already achieved success. By taking the time to understand an angel investor’s preferences, you can better assess whether they would be a good fit for your business.
An angel investor is typically an affluent person who provides monetary funding for a startup business, often given in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity shares. A number of angel investors usually participate in a single financing round with the common goal of helping the company advance to a Series A round of funding.
Angel investors are quite beneficial for small businesses or entrepreneurs and are one of the effective revenue-based financing options. So, here is the blog post curated with a list of the best angel investors in India and what makes them unique.
Most Active & Top Angel Investors in India for Startups
- Amit Lakhotia
Amit Lakhotia, a former vice president of Paytm and now an angel investor in fintech startup BharatPe and social commerce platform Trell, started his smart car parking business Park+ in 2019. It has already raised a Series B round worth $25 Mn from Sequoia and Matrix. In 2021, Lakhotia participated in nine funding deals and backed startups like Fixcraft, GoKwik, and Jun.
- Anand Chandrasekara
He is listed in Fortune’s 40 under 40 and is the partner of the General Catalyst. He also held roles in multinational companies such as Facebook, Snapdeal, Airtel, and Future Group. Anand has been an angel investor in 80+ companies, and he participated in over 130 deals, of which more than 70% are Indian startups. Some of his recent investments include retail aggregator SuperK and cloud management startup OpsLyft.
- Anupam Mittal
Anupam Mittal has been an entrepreneur since the early days of his career when he co-founded the People Group. The company manages businesses such as Shaadi.com, Makaan.com, and Mauj Mobile. Over the years, Mittal has invested in more than 50 startups, including Ola, Druva, and Whatfix. As one of the sharks on Shark Tank India, Mittal has invested in 11 Indian startups in the last year. He participated in Express Stores’ seed round of investment along with Venture Highway, Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal, and others. Other notable investments by Mittal have included Gobbly and GoKwik’s $15 Mn Series A round.
- Harshit Mathur
Harshil is the founder of the most recognized fintech company known, Razorpay. He is an IIT Roorkee alumni and is in the news for investing in new-age startups. Till now, Mathur has invested in the B2B cross-border trading platform GlobalFair, the edTech startup Newton School, and assisted e-commerce startup OneCode.
- Rohit Kapoor
Rohit Kapoor is the CEO of OYO’s India and South East Region, and he made a personal investment in ten startups last year. Some of these startups include HexaHealth, Leverage Edu, and The Souled Store (the biggest e-commerce fashion store). This is Kapoor’s twentieth year of investing, and he has invested in over 20 startups during this time.
- Sahil Barua
Sahil Barua, the founder of Delhivery–a logistics startup that is set to have an IPO–has been busy writing cheques from his own pocket lately. According to his Linkedin profile, Barua started his career as a consultant at Bain & Company before he and Kapil Bharati, Bhavesh Manglani, Mohit Tandon, and Suraj Saharan founded Delhivery in 2011. Some of Barua’s investments in 2021 include Hoopr, a music licensing marketplace, and Flatheads, a D2C sneaker brand.
- Utsav Somani
Utsav Somani started his career as an intern in 2009 at HCL Technologies Pvt. Ltd and became a member of Mumbai Angels in 2014. Also, joined the Indian angels’ network to expand his portfolio. He is the angel investor for startups, including Pristyn Care, which became a unicorn last year, BharatPe, CoinDCX, Jupiter, and many others.
Conclusion
This list will give you a fair idea of whom to reach out to take your business to the next level. Also, there are several institutions that work on revenue-based financing, and one of India’s leading institution’s revenue-based financiers is Velocity. They are dedicated to helping eCommerce and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands grow without giving up equity. They provide growth capital of up to 4 Cr to Indian D2C brands. You can apply on their website and get funded in a week.
