New Delhi, Delhi, India
It is widely acknowledged that the US leads the world in innovation and entrepreneurship because it has the world's best and most vibrant angel and venture capital eco system. They have a large number of successful, experienced entrepreneurs and businessmen who become "business angels" and invest small sums of money in innovative and start up ventures. More importantly, these angels provide invaluable advise and mentoring, which is almost more important for entrepreneurs to succeed than the money itself. Additionally, angels also provide entrepreneurs an access to their vast and valuable network of business contacts. It is only after that venture capital funds come in. In 2004-05 VCs invested USD 22.1 bn in 3008 deals, average of USD 7.4mn but Angels invested USD 23.1 bn in 49,500 companies, average of USD 470,000. It is well acknowledged that the success rate of start ups is extremely low and therefore it is because angels helped create 50,000 start ups that 3000 companies reached a stage where they could take VC money and grow.
This highlights our problem in India. If we don't create large numbers of new start ups where will tomorrow's companies come from. How can we reap what we do not sow. In the US there are over 26mn small businesses, over 700,000 start ups each year and over 200 angel investment groups. In India we have finally attracted VC and PE money. This has gone up from USD 1bn in 2004-05 to USD 2.2 bn in 2005-06, and USD 7.5bn in 2006-07 and estimated USD 15bn this year. However, virtually all of it is for late stage investments. Start ups and new innovative ventures still struggle for funding.
Finally, there is a silver lining. More and more people are willing to quit good jobs and become entrepreneurs, more and more start ups are happening around innovative products and ideas and angels are beginning to come out of the woodwork. The trend has been set by the Indian Angel Network, till recently called the Band of Angels.
Indian Angel Network currently has nearly 60 members drawn from across the country and some from overseas, including leading lights from diverse sectors (information on www.indianangelnetwork.com). Members include people such as Jerry Rao, Saurabh Srivastava, Pramod Bhasin, Raman Roy, Rajiv Luthra, Pradeep Gupta, Alok Mittal, Ranjit Shastri, Mohit Goyal, Rohit Chand, Arvind Singhal, Rajeev Karwal, amongst others. We have institutions such as IBM, SIDBI, Naukri, Greylock Partners, etc. The Network has met with early successes and has already invested in 7 companies across sectors. These angels provide close mentoring and inputs on strategy as well as execution, connect the ventures to their vast network and use their time and expertise to help the investee companies to succeed.
Indian Angel Network interested in investing in early stage businesses, with a potential to create disproportionate value, in the following domains :
-- IT products and services
-- High end BPO services
-- Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunications and embedded domains
-- Retails
-- Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services
-- Education
-- Media & Entertainment
-- New Media
-- Any other area that the Network members may find exciting
We felt the need to change the name to one that better addressed the concept of a network as also our Pan Indian presence. The group has grown faster than any other such group in the world and speaks volumes of the increasing interest in angel investing. We have operations in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai are our members come not only from India but around the world.
Source: Indian Angel Network (Business Wire India)
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