India’s most prolific angel investors

India’s most prolific
Angel Investors
May 2013

Angel investors are a key
part of the startup ecosystem
India’s most prolific Angel Investors

They provide funds and
advice to support early stage
companies...

...that lets these companies
build their initial products and
assemble an early team

Angel investors help startups
get into shape for a larger
round of funding

Angel investors bear high risk
as they often work with
unproven ideas/products

Angel investing is just picking
up in India...

Having said that, there are a
few angels who’ve been
generous when it comes to
number of investments…

We got the list for
you...

Along with the compilation
of all the companies
they’ve invested in…

Read on. But remember that
this is not a ranking list. It’s a
compilation

India’s most prolific
Angel Investors

Rajan Anandan is a Sri Lankan who is currently the
Head of Google India. He was earlier the Managing
Director of Microsoft's Sales Marketing and Services
business in India before which he was the MD at
Dell India. He’s probably the most prolific angel
investor in India at the moment. He Invests only in
tech companies (in India) with above par tech
founders. He appreciates focus on ideas that meet a
real need of consumers or businesses
Detailed interview here
1) Rajan Anandan

Investments:
Capillary Technologies: Cloud-Based Loyalty, Mobile and Social CRM Solutions
Druva: Integrated platform for endpoint backup, secure file sharing, data loss prevention
and real-time analytics
Webengage: SaaS based toolkit for online businesses which allows them to run on-site
marketing campaigns, get customer insights and collect feedback.
Reach Accountant: A software which connects the accountant and the small businesses
Sapience: Software solution that delivers significant work output gains from existing
teams at companies.
eTechies.in: Remote dependable technical support and quality repair service providers
wiziq.com: Making online teaching and learning easier
Mobilewalla: Big data venture that collects all publicly available information regarding
mobile apps, computes analytics and provides intelligence
Peel-Works: Helps organizations increase the efficiency of their sales team
StepOut: A social network which helps people meet up in the real world

Investments:
Instamojo: Simplifying online commerce by making the payment checkout process super
simple
Emo2: Builds hardware and software to bring inanimate surfaces to life (e.g. restaurant
tables)
HashCube: Makes social games on Facebook
Ayojak: A 360 solution to organize an event, managing online-offline event ticket sales,
payment processing, event marketing, and event logistics.
MyShaadi.in: Niche services to the new-age generation to-be married couples
Taxspanner: Online preparation and filing of individual Income Tax Returns (ITR)
SkoolShop: eCommerce portal for school and education products
Digilogues: Digital communications service provider
Cherishmaternity: One stop shop for all pregnancy, maternity and infant needs
abreakplease: Helps discover and book weekend getaways
24/7 Techies: Tech Support for SMBs
iDubba: Improving the TV viewing experience
Missmalini.com: Online portal for Bollywood, Fashion & Lifestyle.

Companies that were acquired:
Buytheprice (acquired by Tradus)
Exclusively.in (acquired by Myntra)
Videa Capital (acquired by Allegro)
Authorstream (acquired by Wiziq)
Jigsee.com (acquired by VuClip)
Hungryzone (Acquired by Justeat)
Authorgen Technologies (acquired by Educomp)

2) Sharad Sharma
Sharad Sharma is an executive council member at NASSCOM. He
has previously served as the CEO of Yahoo! India R&D and was
responsible for emerging markets engineering and several key
global products. He is an evangelist for developing technology
product businesses in India.
Sharad is sector agnostic when it comes to investing and his
investment thesis keeps evolving. Has made investments in
enterprise, consumer, hardware and more. Detailed interview here
.

Investments:
- Lead investor or Board Member:
Druva : Data protection and backup
OrangeScape : A visual platform as a service provider partners Google in
Cloud platform Partner Program.
Unbxd : A virtual salesperson on a e-commerce site
AurusNet : Brings the high-definition video communication products and also
offers the first completely cloud based HD video conferencing solution
Peel-works : A company which helps keep organization an eye on their sales
staff
Stayzilla : Revolutionizing hotel accommodation and booking in India

Hashcube : About 2 million users use this social gaming website
TechFetch : Creating effortless job search along with instant recruitments.
MobileWalla : Offers the intersection of Big Data powered Analytics &
Mobility
BrandSigma : Analytics for Brand Management combining marketing science
with large data sets.
Vayavya Labs : Electronic System Level (ESL) Design ro enhance the
productivity of Embedded system designers and programmers.
- Active investor: i7 Networks, TaxSpanner, Kwench, BirdsEye, Consure
- Through IIF: Surewaves, Iken, Mitra biotech, Sedemac
- Adviser – Eventifier, others

3) Ravi Gururaj
Ravi Gururaj is the Vice president of Cloud
platform at Citrix and the co-founder of Harvard Business
school alumni angels. He likes to invest in simple defendable
ideas in which he believes he can add value beyond simply
writing a check. He prefers seed rounds where both the
product and idea are malleable. He generally stays away from
offline, capex heavy and horizontal e commerce opportunities.
More from Ravi Gururaj in these interviews: Here, here and
here.

Investments:
Aurus Networks
Pretty Secrets : An online brand which offers lingerie, nightwear, swimwear, shape wear & accessories.
Ayojak: A 360 solution to organize an event, managing online-offline event ticket sales, payment
processing, event marketing, and event logistics.
Tuebora* : It provides comprehensive cloud based Identity and Access Governance solutions satisfying the
needs of a wide range of Organizations.
GrexIT* : It helps Google Apps users to create an online repository of knowledge out of their day to day
email communication.
SyncUsUp : It is cross-platform mobile & web apps for iOS & Android that will truly transform and simplify
Social Contact & Address Book Management.
Pretty Secrets: An eCommerce portal specializing in a niche- lingerie.
TookiTaki : It does semantic search on social media for any product and finds out people who are
interested in it.
Moojic : It gives you the power to choose the tunes that play in your favourite hangout.
In the pipeline: Gridsense, Systematics, SocialNewsStand
*Citrix Startup Accelerator Investments

4) Vishal Gondal
Vishal Gondal is a partner at Sweat and blood venture group. He is also the
founder and CEO of Indiagames, a company he founded right out of college.
He is the poster boy of the Indian games industry. He primarily invests in
online companies, but is completely sector agnostic in his choices, investing
in a range of sectors like travel, healthcare and product management.
Read our interview with him and his blog: godinchief

Investments:
Skift: Travel Industry focused content site
Babuki: Allows users to chat with Facebook, MSN, AIM, Yahoo and Gtalk
friends from the web or the desktop
Gama Entertainment: A developer and manufacturer of entertainment
hardware & software products for the retail industry
Docsuggest: Simplifying healthcare
Meracareerguide: Helping students make informed career decisions
Examify: A product to help students prepare for exams
OnContract: Online marketplace to find people and services on contract.
Indix: A product management software
Instablogs: Conversational platform built around the collaborative news
model

5) Rajesh Sawhney
Rajesh Sawhney is the founder of Global Superangels Forum (GSF) and has
previously worked as the president of Reliance Entertainment. He likes to
invest in startups that have clearly differentiated ideas and are targeting a
big market. He invests behind founders and teams that want to change the
world and dream big. He has invested in healthcare, e commerce and
analytics related companies.
Read more about Rajesh and GSF here

Investments:
Viki: A global TV site
Mobstac: Helps create mobile websites
Biosense: Healthcare startup into devices and taking technology advances in
healthcare to the masses.
Chhotu: eCommerce delivery solutions
Autowale: 24*7 Dial-A-RickShaw Service
Brandidea: Consulting and SW Applications for Business Analytics for Mass
Market Brand Owners & Managers in India.
Speakwell: An English training company
Playcez: A location based app that recommends events and activities in the
vicinity to users.
Serial Innovations (exited): Serial Innovations designs, builds and deploys
systems for defense and homeland security applications.
DEXL: A learning solution.
Rajesh is also the founder of GSF Accelerator wherein he has stakes in
companies.

6) Seeders-
Abhishek Rungta and
Pallav Nadhani
Abhishek Rungta is the CEO and founder of Indus Net Technologies while
Pallav Nadhani is the CEO and Founder of Fusion charts. Together, the
duo founded Seeders which invests in early stage companies. They
prefer to invest in entrepreneurs who are resilient, bootstrapped and
are sharply focused. They mainly invest in tech startups.
Read more on our interviews with Pallav, here and here. Find Abhishek’s
blog here and an interview here.

Investments:
Plivo: Provides scalable and feature-rich voice and messaging platform wrapped
with flexible APIs
iimjobs: A jobs portal
iDubba: Builds products to make the TV viewing experience better
Eduora: A startup in the field of education
Shopo.in: An online marketplace for everything with an Indian touch
Azoi: Azoi is a start-up that works on integrating natural interaction and
ubiquitous computing into consumer technology products.
Cropex: Produces eco-friendly, result oriented agrochemicals.
CapriconGifting: A corporate gifts and promotional products companyCarSingh:
An automotive classified website for the auto market in India
NeoBVM: Digital marketing company
iPlus Training: Training for English and government jobs

7) Anand Ladsariya
Anand Ladsariya is the CEO and promoter director of
Everest Flavours Ltd., a privately owned manufacturing and exports company.
Anand has made more than 40 investments in the Indian startup space. This list
includes companies like:
Vellvette: subscription based eCommerce company dealing with beauty
products
Traffline: Offers real time traffic conditions for Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore
Tookitaki: Social audience discovery and retargeting platform
FrameBench: Online collaboration and communication for creative teams
*Other companies haven’t been included on request.

8) Sunil Kalra
Sunil Karla is a member of the Indian Angel network. He is also on
the Board of Governors of the University of Petroleum and Energy
Studies. He invests in a wide range of startups. He prefers online
startups in the service sector although he also has significant
investments in the microfinance and analytics space.

Investments:
Aurality: Personal mobile radio for the textual web.Closed down.
Instamojo: Simplifying online commerce by making the payment checkout
process easy
Jigsee: Free mobile video streaming application
Hashcube:Makes social games on facebook
Mobilewalla: Big data venture that collects all publicly available information
regarding mobile apps, computes analytics and provides intelligence
MyShaadi.in: Niche services to the new-age generation to-be married couples
Unbxd : A virtual salesperson on a e-commerce site
Taxspanner.com: Online income tax filing portal
Kwench: Builds social intranet platforms for companies
Vayavyalabs: Electronics system level designer
OrangeScape : A visual platform as a service provider partners Google in Cloud
platform Partner Program.
Cherishmaternity: One stop shop for all pregnancy, maternity and infant
needs

Peel-Works: Helps organizations increase the efficiency of their sales team
Sensibol: Builds interactive audio applications for edutainment
Goonj: Channelizes unsued materials from urban households to rural areas
Skoolshop: Online portal for school accessories
Druva: Data protection and backup
Utkarsh: Microfinance firm
Consure: Healthcare startup that deals with fecal incontinence
Innovise tech: Develop mobile websites and apps
Acquired companies:
Innoveda: Engages in the development, marketing, and provision of technical
support (acquired by Mentor Graphics Corp)
Buytheprice: Ecommerce portal (aquired by Tradus)

9) Rehan Yar Khan
Rehan Yar Khan is a partner in Orios Venture partners. Taking a leap into
entrepreneurship in early 90’s, RYK started Flora2000.com in 2004 from the
US. In 2008, he came full circle as an entrepreneur and started investing in
early stage companies in India. He is also a board member on the Indian
Angels network and the Harvard Angels. He has led investments in more
than 15 early stage companies.
Interview on investment philosophy here

Investments:Sapience: Software solution that delivers significant work
output gains from existing teams at companies
Polama: Online Holiday company with a unique membership program
Groffr: Online group buying in real estate
Olacabs: Online cab booking portal
Reach Accountant: A software which connects the accountant and the small
businesses
Druva: Integrated platform for endpoint backup, secure file sharing, data
loss prevention and real-time analytics
Kwench: cloud based employee engagement platform
Taxspanner: Online preparation and filing of individual Income Tax Returns
(ITR)
Acquired companies:
Exclusively.in (acquired by Myntra)
Buytheprice (acquired by Tradus)
Jigsee.com (acquired by VuClip)

10) Krishnan and
Meena Ganesh
Krishnan and Meena Ganesh are both entrepreneurs with decades of experience.
After completing 100 % sale of TutorVista to Pearson in February 2013 for $ 213 mm
valuation, they are promoting entrepreneurship through their platform growthstory.in
. They look for passionate entrepreneurs who are consumed by their idea to create
something new. In terms of space, they are looking at blue-ocean spaces, disruptive
business models that can change the status quo without having to compete with
existing players. They like entrepreneurs who want to solve big problems. The bigger
the problem, the more value can be created.
Interviews here and here. More on their blog: GrowthStory

Investments:
Bluestone: An online jewellery shopping store
BigBasket: Online grocery store
MustSeeIndia: A portal about complete travel information for India
Delyver: Enabling home delivery of restaurant food
BookAdda: An online book store

11) Sashi Reddi
Sashi Reddi is a serial entrepreneur. His latest company, AppLabs, was
a leader in software testing and was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) in
September 2011. He looks for companies with a strong, committed founding team where he has
the ability to contribute positively using his experience and network to give a significant
advantage to the company. Sashi’s comfort zone is technology, ideally straddling the India-US
corridor but is open to investing in non-software companies focused on India or the US. The
founding team must have a realistic horizon for building out the company, impeccable integrity,
and passion for their business. He prefer firms playing into large global trends but focused on
dominating a small niche within that overall market.
Read our interview here and more on his site: Sri Capital.

Investments:
Oximity: Revolutionizing the way that news is generated and consumed
Healthify: Intends to provide a fun and effective way to manage your health
Invntn: Has developed some cool technology that will revolutionize augmented
reality.
Glassbeam: Provides analytical solutions based on machine log data for some of
the world’s leading technology companies.
KonciergeMD: Revolutionizing the way that patients interact with their doctors.
Identropy: A cloud-based identity-as-a-service company.
Edutor: Designs, develops and markets innovative, technology-based
educational products
Thinci: Chip design company in stealth mode

GIBSS: multi-channeled business that offers compelling operational,
maintenance and energy solutions to help buildings reduce costs, reduce carbon
emissions and raise productivity.
Shopo: online marketplace for Indian handmade, handcrafted, and designer
goods.
Silicon India: largest network of Indian professionals worldwide.
Sashi invests via other funds as well, more details here

Notes:
This list has been compiled without any intention of ranking.
And the list is not exhaustive. There are many more angel
investors in the Indian startup space.
In this list, the focus has been on individual angel investors.
Apart from these, there are a lot of angel networks (IAN,
Mumbai Angels, HBS Angels, etc.) and funds (Seedfund,
Blume Ventures, India Quotient, etc.) that invest in early
stage companies.
A comprehensive list of investors in India can be found on
our product- YS Pages.
List of investors

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India’s most prolific angel investors

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India’s most prolific angel investors