An angel investor is an investor who invests in a startup, usually in exchange for some equity from the business. An angel investor is very helpful to businesses and to innovative youth who lack finances required to start and grow a business. Here, we have listed top 5 such angel investors from India. Apart from these there are many other prominent angel investors as well. The government also serves as an angel investor by helping the startups.
A good startup idea can come to anyone. It may come to wealthy, who can invest and setup their business. But it can also come to those who do not have the required resources to start a business. An angel investor invests his funds in such businesses. This helps the founders of the startup to actually start their business, and also helps the angel invertors to earn profit from the promising startups in the future.
Here is a list of top 5 angel investors in India:
1. Ratan Tata
With the net worth of $1 billion, Ratan Tata is one of the biggest business tycoons in India. He is also a philanthropist and a notable angel investor. Ratan Tata served as the chairman of Tata Group from 1991 to 2012. Moreover, Ratan Tata is known for his philanthropy all over the world. Tata has helped many small startups by investing in them. Startups like Mailit, GOQii, Tork Motors, Lybrate, Snapdeal and Curefit, are some of the startups that have grown into full-fledged businesses after receiving investment from Ratan Tata.
2. Kunal Shah
At the age of 38, Kunal Shah is one of India’s most active angel investors. He is the founder of the credit card payment platform, freecharge. He further went on to become the founder of CRED, a platform where users get rewarded for payment of credit card bills. Shah is has worked as a part-time partner with Y Combinator and as an advisor for companies like Sequoia Capital, AngelList, Times Group, etc. he has also invested in well-known ventures like Unacademy, TVF, Innov8, Razorpay, etc. He has participated in 124 funding rounds, and has funded 118 companies that have raised $1,381 million.
3. Sanjay Mehta
The founder of 100X.VC, Sanjay Mehta has achieved massive success in the investing world as a technology investor. He is the only Indian angel investor who has four unicorns under his belt. Sanjay’s most notable work was the 280x return of OYO after Rakesh Agrawal exited. He has invested in over 150 startups, with an internal rate of return of 103%. Some of his other notable startups include, Wow! Momos, Box8 and Loginext.
4. Anupam Mittal
like Shaadi.com, Makaan.com, and Mauj Mobile. He is one of the sharks in Shark Tank India; a show where startups get to pitch their businesses in front of angel investors in order t gain funds from them. Anupam has participated in 119 rounds of funding in his career. He has invested in startups like Ola, Dhruva and Whatfix.
5. Rajan Anandan
Ranjan Anandan, the Managing Director of Sequioa Capital, has received his education from the prestigious institutions like MIT and Stanford University. He has been involved in 112 funding rounds, with 90 companies in his portfolio. He has invested in many startup companies like Pregbuddy, Instamojo, Dhruva, Buttercups, Unacademy, etc.
Other than these investors like Sachin Bansal, Kunal Bahl, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Rmakant Sharma and Binny Bansal are some other notable angel investors in India.
The government also serves as one of the most helpful angel investors in India through its schemes. The schemes include, Atal Innovation Mission , Startup India Initiative, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, etc.
Angel investors are actual angels for the innovative founders of a business who are lacking in funds. These angel investors also earn some equity from the businesses they have invested in. Thus, angel investment brings prosperity for the investor and the founder of the startup.
