Indian Angel Network (IAN), India’s first and largest platform for seed and early-age investing, has launched the IAN Alpha Fund, a SEBI Registered Cat II VC fund with a fund corpus of INR 1000 crores. This is the second in the series of IAN Funds.
This Fund is aligned with IAN’s vision of investing in 500 startups, with Rs. 5000 crores and creating 500,000 jobs. It will continue to ease fundraising for startups, bring guidance from mentors who have been there and done that as well as leverage the global network of the IAN ecosystem, enabling entrepreneurs to build high growth, valuable companies.
IAN has played an integral role in unlocking private wealth for seeding and growing startups in the country. It has seeded and bred companies which today, have a market valuation of $9 billion+ and includes 3 unicorns and 5 soonicorns in its portfolio of 200 + companies. With an investment of ~ INR 900 Cr, the IAN platform has catalysed investments of 18000 Cr and created over 80,000 jobs. It has also been recognised by Forbes as an “Iconic Business Event” of Independent India.
Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Co-founder of IAN said, “IAN is recognized in the industry for pioneering angel investing in India and it has continued to innovate by launching a VC fund ( IAN Fund 1) along with the Angel Group to provide a seamless platform for seed and early stage investing. The launch of the IAN Alpha Fund is the logical evolution of our desire to provide quality entrepreneurs with money, mentoring and market access.”
IAN Alpha Fund’s investment thesis is to invest in startups with high-quality founders who are solving real problems for a large customer base and are leveraging technology and innovative business models to scale quickly. The Fund looks to invest in companies with both top and bottom lines OR IP focused.
IAN Alpha Fund is a unique fund with several differentiators. It has access to high-quality, well-mentored proprietary investment opportunities across sectors. Apart from Tier I, the Fund has access to Tier 2 & 3 entrepreneurs who are solving real problems faced by a large number of people. Their ability to be “innovative & disruptive” enables them to create new ways of solving existing problems and then tap growing markets to build valuable companies. The Fund is therefore looking to invest in Cleantech & environment, Healthtech, Agritech, Edutech, Fintech, and emerging sectors like Industry 4.0, Space tech, Web 3, Robotics, etc. with cheque sizes ranging from US$1 to 5mn, along with co-investors.
The IAN Alpha Fund is being led by Ms. Padmaja Ruparel, Senior Managing Partner of IAN Alpha Fund. She said, “After IAN Fund 1 which has been fully deployed and started to return capital, we wanted to continue building on IAN’s vision of being the single largest platform for early-stage funding. Hence, launching IAN Alpha Fund was the next logical step. This will leverage and garner benefits from IAN’s global network, domain experts & high-quality mentors to help the Partners build another high-return potential portfolio. We will be keen on investing in innovative ideas that can generate profits and aim to solve real-world problems.”
Mr. Jaideep Mehta, Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund, said, “IAN has always been at the forefront of seed and early-stage funding. I have been involved with the IAN Platform for a decade and, after the success of IAN Fund 1, am delighted to join the IAN Alpha Fund team where we will seek to support Founders building future global giants leveraging future technologies”
Mr. Vinod Keni, Managing Partner, IAN Alpha Fund, said, “With IAN Alpha Fund, entrepreneurs can access larger Series A round cheques from IAN. For us the idea is to support the ventures not only from Tier I cities but even from Tier 2 & 3 areas that are solving real-world problems at large. We are eyeing startups that are scaling quickly with technology as their core foundation.”
Mr. Jaideep Mehta, an accomplished angel investor who has served as Business Head, Mint at HT Media, and previously held leadership roles at IDC and Gartner globally and Mr. Vinod Keni who has served as Partner & Advisor to various VC/Private Equity Funds in India and Overseas, have joined IAN Alpha Fund as Managing Partners.
IAN Alpha Fund’s Investment Committee includes industry stalwarts Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Co-Founder of IAN and Co-Founder & Past Chairman, NASSCOM & IVCA, Mr. Ajai Chowdhry, Founder, HCL, Mr. Pravin Rao, who recently retired from Infosys as COO, Mr Raman Roy, father of the Indian BPO Industry and Mr. Atul Batra, Ex-CTO-Manthan Systems & Past Chair-NASSCOM Product Council. In a one-of-a-kind for VC Fund, the Alpha Fund’s IC engages deeply with the portfolio companies helping them build their businesses.
The Fund’s Advisory Board includes luminaries from the tech and manufacturing industries, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder, Infosys Mr. Sunil Munjal, Chairman & MD, Hero Mindmine & Hero Corporate Services and Mr. CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra.
IAN Alpha Fund is the second Fund in IAN’s series of Funds. It is being built to leverage the portfolios of both IAN Angel Platform and IAN Fund I apart from investing in new sustainable businesses solving real problems, and leveraging technology. With the IAN Alpha Fund, IAN continues its legacy of building a portfolio of high-quality companies by founders who not only understand the customer need but have leadership qualities to onboard high-quality teams to build valuable businesses.
