The venture capital industry has been in turmoil for the past couple of years, having an adverse effect on newly launched startups as they enter into the funding years. Notably, we forecast an overall positive outlook for the venture capital (VC) industry as the funding has been southward bound in the country, domestic angel investors have played a crucial role at this juncture by coming forward and acting as drivers for the growing startup funding ecosystem.
During 2023, the country’s top 10 angel investors have induced funding into the startup ecosystem and have made as many as 101 investments in Indian Startups, according to data by Venture Intelligence. This number is significantly lower than last year’s 207 investments made by Indian angel investors.
In the early week of Oct’2023, investors and entrepreneurs splurged the startup ecosystem by launching their own investment funds. Below, we have provided a detailed description of these highlighted funds, shedding light on their unique attributes and investment strategies.
VSS Investment Funds
- Launched by Vijay Shekar Sharma (Founder & CEO, Paytm)
- Total Fund Size: Rs. 30Cr.
- Industry Overview: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Electric Vehicle (EV)- related startups, incubated in India.
WTF Funds
- Launched by Nikhil Kamath (Founder & CEO, Zerodha)
- Total Fund Size: Rs. 80L
- Industry Overview: An initiative to invest in startups launched by budding entrepreneurs under the age of 22 years.
Additionally, Industry pioneers and investors such as Rohit Bansal (Co-founder, Snapdeal) and Nithin Kamath (Founder & CEO, Zerodha) also have a future outlook to infuse their investments into the startup ecosystem through the investment entities owned by them.
Zerodha-owned investment arm Rainmatter Capital has allocated a fresh capital of Rs 1,000 crore in a unique structure that has no exit mandates to investors in order to benefit founders. Set up in 2016, Rainmatter has partnered with over 80 startups and has invested close to Rs 400 crore, the investments focus on sectors like health, education, and climate change.
Whereas, Titan Capital (Rohit Bansal’s Investment Arm) screens more than 4,000 inbound proposals from investors every year, making Bansal one of the most active angel investors in the Indian Startup World. Considering the bets taken by him through his investment firm, Bansal has invested in 17 startups, with his portfolio companies including Ola, Pepper, Urban Company, Mamaearth, and Credgenics.
In conclusion, India’s Startup story for the foreseeable future looks promising, we believe that rising funding opportunities from domestic angel investors and VC firms and the country’s growing young entrepreneurial generation will lead India’s economy to compete with the world’s strongest economies.
