The chances of failure of businesses in the first 10 years are 65%. It is true that not all businesses will survive till the end. In fact, more than half of new startups fail in their first year only. A business needs a lot of other things to survive apart from funds, of course, funds are the most important factor but without proper planning and execution, and the ability to adjust, even if you have a huge amount of funds, the business is bound to fail.
In recent years, EdTech startups have created quite a stir in the world; naturally, India is not behind in this list. The pandemic has contributed to the boom of EdTech in the startup ecosystem. Several EdTech comapnies have made their name in the industry and some are on the verge to become the next big thing. Then there are other companies, who have faced defeat and have failed to survive in the industry.
Lido Learning is an Indian EdTech company, whose failure was a great shock to the industry. In this article, we will talk about, Why Lido Learning shut down its operations while leaving employees unpaid. So, let’s get started.
“You have to always be vigilant and make sure you’re ready to get on the bandwagon as a need for any new change arises.” – Pooja Agnihotri
Lido Learning is an Indian EdTech company that was founded in the year 2019 by Sahil Sheth. The main motive of the company is to provide education in a revolutionary way through their online platform to Indian kids and develop the education industry.
Sail Sheth – Lido Learning Founder
Live classes are held online through this platform for children. Apart from that, animated videos and interactive games are also included in the platform. Top teachers are provided to them and tests are conducted, to understand the progress of the students. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India.
The main USP of the company was that every class will consist of only 5 to 6 students so that they can get proper attention. Lido Learning was for the students of KG to Class 12.
Reasons for the Failure of Lido Learning
On 4th February 2022 on a very shocking note, Lido Learning shut down their operations and created a situation where 150 employees of the company’s future faced a big question mark.
The EdTech startup was backed by some of the popular angel investors Paytm founder – Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Myntra founder – Mukesh Bansal, Shaadi.com’s founder and Shark Tank India judge – Anupam Mittal, MedLife’s founder – Ananth Narayanan, and UpGrad founder – Ronnie Screwvala.
Some of the reasons that lead to the failure of Lido Learning are:
Inability to Raise Funds
Funding is one of the most, if not the most important factor in a business for its survival. Without funding, a company can never function properly. Although Lido Learning was able to raise $24 million to date for their funds from popular investors like Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and Anupam Mittal but due to the pandemic many companies backed out at the last moment who wanted to invest in the startup.
Various deals with the companies like CureFit and ByteDance for investments got cancelled. This resulted in a shortage of funds in the company that lead to financial difficulties.
Teachers and Employees Are Not Paid
Employees are the backbone of any company; a company can fully function with the help of its employees. Now for that, a company needs to take care of its staff properly. The red flag arose in Lido Learning when the teachers and the employees are not given their payments.
The teachers and the staff took to different social media platforms to complain against the company when their salaries were not paid to them.
Juhiee Arora, Talent Acquisition Specialist
Some ex-employees also complained who quit were not given their payments as well. Nitish Banka, a lawyer at the Supreme Court also shared the same through his Linkedin post.
Nitish Banka, Lawyer at Supreme Court
As per sources, Lido Learning has already suspended all their operation and emails has been sent to the employees regarding the issue.
Inability to Offer Refunds to the Customers
Another main reason for the failure of this EdTech is that the customers of the company were not served properly, their demands were not met and the service was pretty bad.
When customers wanted to cancel the trial period, some demands were not fulfilled, refunds were not offered to them. After the cancellation of their subscriptions, this led to a bad word of mouth and also got negative feedback from the customers, thus the company lost its reputation.
EdTech has been able to gather the attention of the world, especially after Coronavirus when people got confined in their own homes, the education system almost got disrupted. EdTech took the advantage of the situation and made a place in the startup ecosystem. Lido Learning was going good at first but the above reasons have led to its shut down as it was not able to adapt after the pandemic.
FAQs
Is Lido Learning shutting down?
The founder, Sahil Sheth has announced that there is no fund left for the business so Lido Learning will shut down its operations in Feb 2022.
Who is the founder of Lido Learning?
Sahil Sheth is the founder of Lido Learning who founded the company in 2019.
How old is Lido learning?
Lido Learning was founded in 2019 by Sahil Sheth.
Who invested in Lido?
Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CultFit founder, Mukesh Bansal, Shaadi.com’s founder and Shark Tank India judge, Anupam Mittal, MedLife’s founder, Ananth Narayanan were some of the investors of Lido Learning.
Sandeep Tandon is a technology entrepreneur, investor, and mentor for the startups and entrepreneurs of today. Tandon is widely recognized as the Co-founder of one of India’s first mobile payment platforms FreeCharge, along with Kunal Shah, which was sold to Snapdeal in March 2015 and was eventually acquired by Axis Bank in 2017. He currently serves as the Managing Director of Tandon Group, a technology catalyst that owns numerous businesses by providing resources to startup companies in India and North America, along with being a Board Member and Executive Chairman of a number of other companies.
Tandon is an active Angel Investor and aids as a mentor to several technology startups. He has served the technology industry for more than 20 years now. He holds a net worth of over Rs.11.5 crore, as of 30 September 2020.
Sandeep Tandon was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. His career graph ran across California and Mumbai. After completing his graduation, Tandon initially started with a Los Angeles startup firm, which he eventually resigned from in order to set up his own accounts payable company.
Sandeep Tandon- Career
Sandeep Tandon completed his formal education from Bombay Scottish. He further pursued the Bachelors and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
He has a connection with Harvard University, where he served as the Owner President Manager- YPO Presidents Seminar and studied Business Administration and Management (2008 to 2017).
Sandeep Tandon- Personal Life
Sandeep Tandon currently resides in Mumbai with his family, and frequently mentors future leaders.
After completing his education, Sandeep worked as an application engineer for a Los Angeles startup. Soon, he left the startup to launch his own accounts payable company, IQBackOffice. However, he sold his company in the year 2000 and then decided to return to India to work for Celetronix.
He examined the operations of Celetronix India until 2006 when it was sold to Jabil Circuits. He eventually served as the Chairman of the Electronics Software Export Promotion Council(ESC). Moreover, he is also a Member of Young President Organisation (Mumbai Chapter). In 2010, he co-founded FreeCharge, which became India’s fastest-growing mobile payment app. FreeCharge initially was started as an Indian financial services platform that enabled the users to pay their phone bills and other utility bills from their mobile devices and was gradually transformed into an eCommerce platform, here Tandon had a huge contribution for sure.
After the acquisition of FreeCharge, Sandeep Tandon served as the Non-Executive Chairman of AAVAS Financiers since 27 July 2017. FreeCharge, which was built by Sandeep Tandon and CRED Founder, Kunal Shah, was sold to Snapdeal for a whopping $400 mn in 2015, which is easily one of the largest deals to date in the consumer internet space. This utility bill payment company was again acquired by Axis Bank on July 27, 2017, in a deal worth $60 mn.
He is currently serving several key leadership designations at once. He is presently an Executive Board Member at Infinx Healthcare, a software that provides patient access and revenue cycle management for healthcare providers; the Executive Chairman of Syrma Technology, an electronics manufacturing service provider. He is also a Member of the Board of Advisors at USC Viterbi School of Engineering, IIFL Investment Managers, and Iron Pillar. Along with this, Tandon has also the Chairman Of The Board at Aavas Financiers Ltd and an investing partner of Whiteboard Capital since January 2018.
He is the Managing Director at Tandon Group, through which he examines a bunch of companies and works as an Angel Investor providing fundingfor startup ventures. Besides, Tandon is still serving as a Board Member at CRED.
Sandeep Tandon co-founded FreeCharge in August 2010 with Kunal Shah.The company was headquartered in Gurugram, India. The users having pre-paid phones can purchase minutes through the FreeCharge app or website. It basically initiated the transformation of purchasing minutes from their own device instead of buying minutes from the store.
He also co-founded Accelyst Solutions Private Limited. FreeCharge is founded by its parent company, Accelyst Solutions, where Sandeep has been serving as the Chief Business Officer since 1 September 2015. The company offers a varied range of online recharge services to prepaid mobile, DTH, and data card operators.
Tandon continued to transform FreeCharge into an e-commerce venture and it operates in India. However, the company was acquiredby Snapdeal in India’s largest M&A internet deal in March 2015.
Founder of Freecharge at Tech Sparks
Sandeep Tandon- Tandon Group
Sandeep as the Managing Director examines the operations of Tandon Technology Ventures (Tandon Group). Through his venture, he oversees the strategy to fund startup companies as an Angel Investor. The company was founded in 1978 and isheadquartered in Mumbai and Silicon Valley.
Subsidiaries of Tandon Group
Syrma Technology Private Limited
TIS International (USA)
TIS-BPO
Tancom Electronics Private Limited
Tandon Information Solutions Private Limited
Tovya Automation Private Limited
Tandon Advance Devices Private Limited
Sandeep Tandon- Board of Director
Sandeep serves as the Member of the Board of Directors at various companies. He is a Member of the Board of Advisors at USC Viterbi School of Engineering since March 2014.
He is also a Member of the Board of Advisors of a Seed fund, IIFL Investment Managers, and Iron Pillar since January 2017. He became the Member Board of Directors atCREDin October 2018 and is presently still aligned with the firm.
Sandeep Tandon- Angel Investor
Sandeep has made 21 investments to date. His investment in the Seed Round of indiagold is the most recent one that came in on February 27, 2021.
He invested in an Angel Round- Genius Teacher on 19 October 2020 followed by another investment on February 25, 2021, after which came the investment in indiagold. He has raised funding of $2 million for Genius Teacher. The same day, he raised $6 million in seed funding for a venture named Dukaan.
He has raised $10 million for Atomberg Technology on 4 September 2019. Another organization, Progcap received funding of $5 million on 31 July 2019.
On 6 June 2017, Spinny got funding of $1 million. Unacademyreceived Series A funding of $4.5 million on 13 January 2017. Pocket Aces was bestowed with a funding of $3 million on 15 December 2016. Bharat Bazaar was funded as well on 4 October 2016.
Here’s a look at some of the recent investments made by Sandeep Tandon:
Investment Date
Name of the Company
Name of the Funding Rounds
February 27, 2021
indiagold
Seed Round
February 25, 2021
Raise Financial Services
Seed Round
October 19, 2020
Genius Teacher
Angel Round
October 19, 2020
Dukaan
Seed Round
September 4, 2019
Atomberg Technology
Series A
July 31, 2019
Progcap
Series A
June 6, 2017
Spinny
Seed Round
January 13, 2017
Unacademy
Series A
December 15, 2016
Pocket Aces
Series A
October 14, 2016
Bharat Bazaar
Seed Round
Sandeep Tandon- FAQs
What is FreeCharge app?
FreeCharge is one of India’s leading payments app. Consumers can use it for making postpaid, prepaid, metro recharge, DTH, and other utility payments across the country.
Is FreeCharge Indian app?
Yes, it’s an Indian app.
Is FreeCharge safe?
Yes, Freecharge is quite safe to use. This online recharge and bill payments platform is now owned by Axis Bank.
What is Sandeep Tandon’s Net Worth?
Sandeep Tandon had a net worth of Rs 11.5 Crore when estimated in 2020.
The concept of crowdfunding has just started to gain momentum in India. ‘Funding’ is the first problem new people, entering the world of business for the first time, find it difficult.
Startups have to turn to institutions and angel investors because there is a lack of funds for bootstrapping or a lack of help from friends or family. But banks tend to refuse business loans for first-time entrepreneurs and often ask for huge collateral. Sometimes, it’s difficult to convince investors also. That crowdfunding platforms can play a key role in helping entrepreneurs make the most of their ideas.
Crowdfunding is defined as a pooling of resources by a group of people for a common goal. In this concept, common mass is approached to raise funds for your idea execution, project, startup, or cause.
According to a survey conducted, less than 2% of the companies end up raising funds from professional investors. This is large because of reasons ranging from non-scalable businesses to the lack of exits. The rest 98% still need to raise funds to take their startup to the next level.
Some of the popular crowdfunding sites in India are Kickstarter, Wishberry, Indiegogo, FuelADream, Fundable, Ketto, Catapooolt, and Milaap which not only help Startups or individuals to launch a product but also test the acceptance of the product in the market.
If we compare the crowdfunding market in India to that of the United States, we are still considerably smaller. However, if estimates are to be believed, this can soon change.
Let’s see how does crowdfunding works in India for businesses and startups and its benefits.
In the donation model, individuals make a financial contribution to a project without any expectations of financial benefits.
Lending Model
In this model, individuals will lend money to the project with the expectation of being repaid under the terms and conditions agreed.
Reward-Based Crowdfunding
In reward-based crowdfunding, people contribute to your campaign and you give them a reward in return. The reward could be a DVD of the Film, The Gadget, etc. Equity cannot be given as a Reward.
Investment Model
In the Investment model of crowdfunding, the investor receives an equity stake in the project. Equity-based crowdfunding is not so common in India. Crowdfunding is becoming a lifeline for new entrepreneurs and small businesses as it helps them in many ways without losing much equity. Let’s see how crowdfunding helps startups and businesses in India.
How to Build a Crowdfunding Website or Platform in India?
Easy Steps to Create a Crowdfunding website or platform:
Find a Crowdfunding Niche
Choosing a niche helps to classify your site from others, and can also provide value to your campaign creators and sponsors. Every new crowdfunding website or platform is dedicated to a niche. That means that the website will host crowdfunding campaigns for one particular matter or kind of product.
This is due to the big platforms that are available to crowdfunding creators. There is no use in trying to compete with the bigger crowdfunding platforms on the internet because you will likely lose.
Use Crowdfunding Technology
Search for the right technology that you want to use for your Crowdfunding website. Not all technology is paid, but when it comes to running a successful Crowdfunding platform, you want to be sure that there are no faults so users have a great experience on your website.
You get what you pay for, if you use free Crowdfunding software, do not be surprised when something goes wrong with your website. Choosing a SaaS (Software as a Service) product can provide you with real-time support. This way you can get your site up and running fast, with as few issues as possible. And if there is a problem on the site, you are not left to your own to fix the issue.
Connect The Payment Gateway
It is usually best to open up a new bank account for the Crowdfunding platform if you are serious about taking a transaction fee on the donations to the website. If you were not already known, most Crowdfunding websites are taking a transaction fee on each donation to the campaigns on the site.
This is a great way to generate an income on the side, by utilizing Crowdfunding. Depending on the usage of the platform, a bank account can be set up and connected to the payment gateway to receive a transaction fee.
Add The Content
Once you are finished choosing the niche, platform, and connecting your payment solution to your bank account, next, is the most time-consuming step, adding the content to your platform. You should have access to the front-end source code, to manipulate the User Interface (UI) to your standards.
You will be restricted by the default UI and features from the product if you do not have access to the front-end source code. It is best practice to create all of the content, and have all of the images/videos ready before adding the content to the site. This can save a lot of time by simply copying and pasting the content onto the site.
Launch The Platform
Once the platform is all set up, the next step is to launch the platform. Before launching the platform, however, it is recommended to have Crowdfunding campaigns ready to host their campaign on your platform before launching.
The first handful of campaigns on your new platform is likely going to be from friends and family. If those campaigns are not available, you need to start searching for campaigns by joining online communities in your niche, and in the Crowdfunding industry.
Market The Platform
The website is finally created and launched on the internet. The last step is to market the platform. The whole idea is to market the Crowdfunding platform successfully so that many campaign creators are approaching you to create a campaign on your platform. This way, you do not have to do any work to make money. This can be a great solution for those that want to generate monthly revenue by simply approving or disapproving Crowdfunding campaigns.
Starting up a company is a very risky and challenging journey. Launching a crowdfunding campaign hedges these risks and serves as a valuable learning experience. Crowdfunding as it is today allows an entrepreneur to gain market validation and avoid giving up equity before going all out and taking a product concept to market.
Crowdfunding Saves Equity
Crowdfunding is a great alternative way to fund a venture and it can be done without giving up equity or accumulating debt.
Crowdfunding As Marketing Tool
An active crowdfunding campaign is a good way to introduce a venture’s overall mission and vision to the market, as it is a free and easy way to reach numerous channels.
Crowdfunding Proves The Concept
Showing investors and convincing yourself that your venture has received sufficient market validation at an early stage is hard. Crowdfunding makes this possible as people get to know about your product and show their response.
Crowdfunding Helps to Brainstorm Ideas
One of the biggest challenges for small businesses and entrepreneurs is to be able to cover all the holes that a venture might have at an early stage. By having a crowdfunding campaign, the entrepreneur has the ability to engage the crowd and receive comments, feedback, and ideas.
People who view the entrepreneur’s campaign and decide to contribute are ones that believe in the success of the company in the long run. In essence, these people are early adopters. Early adopters are very important to every business, as they will help spread the initial word without asking for anything in return. Such people care about the venture’s brand and message and are likely to be loyal customers throughout their life.
Crowdfunding is Easier Than Traditional Applications
Applying for a loan or pursuing other capital investments are two of the most painful processes that every entrepreneur has to go through, especially during the early stages of the company.
Crowdfunding is Free PR
The momentum created by successful crowdfunding campaigns attracts potential investment from traditional channels and attention from media outlets. Success stories make for interesting reading, and reporters are always hungry for them.
Crowdfunding Provides The Opportunity of Pre-selling
Launching a crowdfunding campaign gives an entrepreneur the ability to pre-sell a product or concept that they haven’t yet taken to market. This is a good way to gauge user reaction and analyze the market in order to decide whether to pursue or pivot on a given concept.
Crowdfunding is Free to Launch
Launching a crowdfunding campaign on some of the platforms is absolutely free. You will be charged a minimal fee when you raise funds.
This is the major step where most of the crowdfunding projects fail in India and the project creator never realizes it. As crowdfunding is a very niche stage in India, it is very important for crowdfunding platforms to help project creators in creating projects and help them to shape their projects for an Indian audience. Choose your crowdfunding portal wisely.
Every crowdfunding platform in India takes a different approach to projects. Do little research on all the portals. Talk with some platforms, regarding your project and find out which crowdfunding platform fits perfectly for you.
Create the Perfect Pitch Video for your Crowdfunding Project
This is the most important factor which most of the people in India forget. Most people see Kickstarter and create crowdfunding projects, thinking that they’ll get millions overnight, which is never true.
Entrepreneurs need to understand the mentality and psychology of Indians, compared to other nations. Indians love giving. We give millions and billions of rupees every year in temples and charity but when it comes to lending a hundred rupees to some person we think thousand times. That is where your crowdfunding video and description play a vital role in raising funds from them.
Most people judge a crowdfunding project by just looking at the video. Make your crowdfunding video short and simple. Don’t add fancy 3D imaging graphics or VFX in the video. Nor add too much animation to it. Keep it to the point, make it clear.
Remember, your end result from this video is money, not entertainment. Show your product, show yourself, your team, your workspace, your past work, and tell why someone should fund you or what change your project is going to make in society. This helps to build trust for the contributor.
Project Description
Write a detailed description but add attractive graphics along with it. In observation, it was found that most of the people in India write 2-3 lines or 1-2 paragraphs without graphics in their description. Writing only 2-3 lines shows that you are not serious about your product.
A dedicated investor would never be investing in your project without knowing in detail about it. It is suggested to keep long description, as the one who is going to give a large amount of money to a stranger will surely want to read everything.
Create a graphic picture that shows your product, your rewards, your timeline when you’ll deliver me rewards, and most importantly, your product specification.
Rewards
You need to understand that in India, most of the target audience is the middle class. Nobody will be willing to give more than 5% of their monthly salary unless you’re giving them something cool in return.
Only rich people will give your project above Rs 5-10K and that if you’re giving them a customized product or something special in return. You need to consider giving a special reward gift in return which provides them emotional value. For example, you can give them your product with a celebrity’s signature or better, help them meet the celebrity.
PR (Public Relation)
Most of the people in India are unaware of crowdfunding. So, it is very important for the project creator to get the right reach of the right audience. Once your crowdfunding project is ready, you need to decide your communication strategy before making the project live.
Create a mailer list, from your school friends to current enemies. Tell them all about your project and ask them to fund it once the project is live. Don’t be ashamed, be straightforward in asking to fund your project. If they don’t fund it, at least ask them to share a word of mouth or a small post on their social media. It will help you to raise a little fund. Then, it’s time for PR.
Get in touch with all your press contacts and tell them about your crowdfunding project. If you don’t have any contacts, hire a PR agency. If you can’t hire a PR agency, ask your crowdfunding portal to do PR on your behalf.
Some of the crowdfunding platforms in India help with that too. PR or Public relations are a crucial factor in any business. You need to have credibility in writing to prove your genuineness and potential in your PR.
News articles will help you to achieve this and act as a backbone. It’ll also help you to get strangers to know about your project and in some cases, raise funds from them.
Get in touch with bloggers who write articles regarding your project field. Let them know about your project and ask them to write an article on your project. Choose a blog with good reach and engagement.
Social Media and Follow-up
Build a social media strategy and create some unique campaigns surrounding your project. Social Media will help you to get that boost for making your project a success. A creative campaign will help your project go viral and even to reach the audience who’ll fund it.
Do Facebook posts thrice a day.
Interact with strangers on Twitter by tweeting, hourly.
Tell every possible person on the internet about your project.
Send emails to all your contacts regarding your project, weekly.
Take a follow-up via email or phone with the people who said they’ll fund your project or showed their interest.
Connect with writers who wrote about your project in news articles or blogs. Ask them to update their articles about your new achievement.
Put yourself in the investor’s shoes and see what you will want to see if someone asks for money from you.
Crowdfunding is a good option for new startups with people and investors getting aware of it. It is a platform to show your product to investors if you do not have many contacts in the business world. The main advantage of crowdfunding is that you do not necessarily have to lose equity while raising funds. However, the Indian crowdfunding system does work in that way a lot.
There might be some people who will fund you without equity but you will get the majority of the funds from professional investors who will demand equity in your company. It’s your job to choose the right crowdfunding option.
FAQs
What is crowdfunding and how does it work?
In its simplest form, crowdfunding is getting others to finance the creation of a product, project, business, or work of art. It’s extremely advantageous for entrepreneurs and eliminates the overbearing upfront costs that stop most startups before they begin. It uses a web-based platform or social networking sites to solicit funds for the fundraiser by showcasing the story to potential donors or investors.
What are some of the benefits of crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding can be a fast way to raise finance with no upfront fees in businesses. Pitching a project or business through the online platform can be a valuable form of marketing and result in media attention. By sharing your idea, you can often get feedback and expert guidance on how to improve it, etc.
What are some of the popular crowdfunding platforms in India?
Kickstarter, Wishberry, Indiegogo, FuelADream, Fundable, Ketto, Catapooolt, and Milaap are some of the popular crowdfunding sites in India.
What is an example of crowdfunding?
An example of a successful crowdfunding project is The Veronica Mars Movie Project. Fundraiser Rob Thomas used crowdfunding to fund the movie. The project was a great success surpassing their $2 million goals by an additional $3 million. The crowdfunding project also gained international reach.
Shark Tank is a business reality show owned by ABC and is the no. 1 business reality show in the world. The concept of the game show involves ambitious entrepreneurs presenting their breakthrough business concepts to ruthless investors or “Sharks” to convince them to invest in the concept.
The most important part of Shark Tank is the panel, aka the ‘sharks’ who decide whether or not to invest in the ideas of the entrepreneurs. In the Indian version, Shark Tank India, we have the following sharks (Judges) in the panel:
Vineeta Singh – CEO & Co-founder of SUGAR Cosmetics
Ashneer Grover, Founder and MD of BharatPe
Peeyush Bansal – Founder & CEO of Lenskart.com
Namita Thapar – ED of Emcure Pharmaceuticals
Anupam Mittal – Founder and CEO of Shaadi.com
Ghazal Alagh – Co-founder and Cheif Mama of Mamaearth
Aman Gupta – Co-founder and CMO of BoAt
Some aspects that come to mind when someone says Shark Tank: grilling someone on the industry size, the market opportunity, the size of the niche market they want to target (if they are targeting a niche market), competitors, financial data on their competitors, how they got that data / how they arrive at the assumptions about their competitors etc.
On top of this, Sharks also want to get to know the entrepreneurs. There are a few episodes in the original Shark tank where the Sharks have walked away from a pitch not because the product was bad, but because they didn’t want to work with the investor.
On the flip side, there were also times when Sharks made offers not because they loved the product but because they believed in the entrepreneurs. We get a glimpse into some of the characteristics of these entrepreneurs but I’m sure they go more in-depth.
The first episode of Shark Tank India was aired on 20th Dec 2021 on Sony Liv. The panel for the first episode included Vineeta Singh, Ashneer Grover, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal, and Aman Gupta.
BharatPe MD and Co-founder Ashneer Grover, who is still one of the judges of the Indian version of Shark Tank, has been recently engaged in a financial fraud of BharatPe and is asked to be on a mandatory leave of absence. He and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, who is also associated with this financial misconduct, has been on a leave of absence along with five others. BharatPe Co-founder and MD can also be fired from the company by the Board, as far as the reports dated January 29, 2022.
Products Featured in the First Episode of Shark Tank India
First Product: Blue Pine Foods Pvt. Ltd.
Blue Pine Foods
The Entrepreneurs:
Aditi Madan aka Momo Mami and the Co-Founders- Rohan Singh and Naveen Pawar.
The Ask:
₹50L for 5% equity
The Pitch:
Blue Pine Foods is a frozen momo company that makes 100% natural, preservative-free handcrafted momos using traditional Himalayan ingredients. The shelf life of the momos is over 4 months.
The Profits:
Made and sold over 80 Lakh momos through both B2B and QSR. Sales of ₹3.6 cr over the period of 5 years.
The Negotiation:
Ashneer did not wait too long before making the first offer of ₹50L for 7% equity with a warning that it was an exploding offer. Anupam pulled out saying he cannot make an offer that’s lower than Ashneer’s. Namita Thapar was the next one to pull out as she “cannot relate with the industry”. Vineeta offered ₹50L for 20%.
Together, Aman and Ashneer offered ₹50L for 12%, to which Aditi gave two counteroffers of ₹50L for 10% and ₹75L for 12%. Ashneer, Aman and Vineeta came together and made a tempting offer of ₹75L for 16% equity, which was happily accepted by Aditi.
The Deal:
₹75L for 16% Equity
Second Product: Booz Scooters
Booz Scooters
The Entrepreneur:
Rutvij Dasadia
The Ask:
₹40L for 15% equity
The Pitch:
Booz is South Asia’s first App-based electric scooter operator that serves at business parks, Commercial parks, residential areas, industrial areas, educational campuses, tourist spots, clubs, resorts and other such confined premises by offering electric kick scooters on rental.
Charging stations, installations, daily maintenance, charging plugins and plug outs are offered at monthly subscription. The vision of Booz is to eliminate fuel vehicles at these places and make premises more pollution-free and add leisure experience to recreational spots.
The Profits:
Last Year the business got revenue of 4 Lakhs.
The Negotiation:
Anupam pulled out immediately after giving a brutal statement that he doesn’t see any value in it. Namita, once again, pulled out as she doesn’t “relate to the product” and because the product did not excite her on a personal level. Vineetha and Ashneer came together and made an aggressive offer of ₹40L for 50% Equity. Rutvij countered the offer with an offer of 40L for 33% Equity but Ashneer stood his ground till the founder finally caved.
The Deal:
₹40L for 50% Equity
Third Product: Heart up my sleeves
Heart up my Sleeves
The Entrepreneur:
Riya Khatter
The Ask:
₹25L for 10% equity
The Pitch:
It’s a unique brand that makes detachable statement sleeves. The sleeves are reusable, sustainable and you can style them in different ways.
The Profits:
Sales of ₹11.6L in 9 months. Last month’s sales were ₹1.96l.
The Negotiation:
Aman and Namita did not think twice before pulling out as they did not see potential in the product. Anupam and Vineeta swooped in to grab the opportunity, and an offer of ₹25L for 40% equity was placed on the table. The 23-year-old entrepreneur countered it with an offer of ₹25L for 30% equity which the sharks couldn’t say no to because of her beautiful pitch.
The Deal:
₹25L for 30%
Review of the First Episode of Shark Tank India
The investors faced a lot of backlashes after the show was aired. But there were a lot of people that found nothing wrong with the actions of the investors. The controversy can be summed up with the help of the post and the comment below:
Shashikant Chaudhary, an angel investor posted the following on LinkedIn:
“I was really very excited to watch the first season of Shark Tank India – both as a viewer and as an angel investor. This show promises a platform for entrepreneurs from tier 2 and tier 3 cities to take their business to the next level. Crucially, this show is also going to double as educational for millions of people as it reveals things about business and funding.
It is in this context that I found the way sharks were making an offer to entrepreneurs by asking for a 40-50% stake in the company for 25-50 lacs uncomfortable to watch.
As an angel investor myself and instructor of an entrepreneurship course, I feel, If an entrepreneur is giving up 30-50% of the company in a single round, by the end of the third or fourth round of investment, the founding team will be at less than 15-20% stake. There would be very little incentive for founders to work for such a low equity stake. In the end, he/she would leave the company.
I know it can be argued that the sharks are doing their best by getting the best deal for them personally but I also feel that this is a tricky message for the startup community (especially those not well-versed with technicalities of the impact of giving away too much stake in a single round). I wish people watching the show somehow also know that this is the kind of offer that is detrimental to the founder in the long run.”
And the top comment by Paresh Masade, Founder of Vaave (Coherendz India Private Limited) read:
“Isn’t the very notion of “Shark” in a tank wrong, they are supposed to be “Angel” investors. You have been a mentor, guide, advisor and well-wisher, not even close to being a shark.
My views on the shark tank differ a bit, it is designed to be a TV show and to entertain the audience. They resemble more of the WWF matches, very glamourous and sexy, nothing real. I may be wrong here, but many of the seasoned angel investors I have seen, understand very well that it’s the entrepreneur who is in the driver’s seat!”
The original shark tank created a huge fan base for itself across the globe over the past 13 years. The Indian show definitely shows a lot of potential for creating a massive loyal fanbase as well. It is amazing to see the spirit of the young entrepreneurs and supportive seniors on Indian television. Hopefully, the show will bring a new wave of ideas and entrepreneurs to the country.
You can watch the episodes of Shark Tank India live on SonyLIV or Sony TV. With new episodes coming out from Monday to Friday at 9 PM on the designated platform.
FAQ
Who are the judges in Shark Tank India?
Vineeta Singh, Ashneer Grover, Namita Thapar, Anupam Mittal and Aman Gupta, Ghazal Alagh, and Peeyush Bansal are the judges in Shark Tank India.
Angel investors are sometimes marked as Private investors or Seed Funders. Though known by different names, their main aim is to invest in startups or new ventures, thereby helping them to grow and create a presence in this dynamic environment. If you are looking to get an insight about Angel Investors in Delhi along with their Contact Details and Major investments, then this is the right place. As we have put in our best to compile a list of Angel Investors in and around Delhi.
Before, getting to the list of Angel Investors in Delhi. Let’s get an understanding on What do Angel Investors look for in a startup? It becomes essential for a startup to wisely approach an investor that suits the requirements and expertise of both.
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Markets Interested: SaaS, Consumer Internet, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Healthcare, and Digital Media. Investments: Instamojo, POPxo, ZipGo, Dunzo, Innov8, Rapido, Unacademy, CroFArm among many others.
Rajan Anandan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajan Anandan, the MD of Sequoia Capital, is the most prominent investor in the startup industry. He has served as an MD at Microsoft India, Vice President and SEA at Google, and also gained exposure in Dell India. He has gained experience with startups across various domains.
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Markets Interested: Mobile, Gaming, Social Media, Real Estate, Food Tech, Logistics, Consumer Internet, Media, Fintech, HR Tech, Education, and E-commerce. Investments: LogiNext, Milaap, InnerChef, Wishberg, FactorDaily, ThePrint, Flyrobe, TapChief, Unacademy, Innov8 among many.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma | Angel Investors in Delhi
The founder and CEO of Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and One97 has a spectacular experience in the Indian startups. He has given a helping hand to many of the startups in their journey of survival and growth. He graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and later founded his first venture XS Corps, which was then sold to Lotus Interworks LLC.
Sunil Kalra is one of the prominent independent angel investors in Indian Angel Network. Being the MD at Via Projects Pvt Ltd and a Venture Partner at Stride Ventures, Sunil has gained immense experience in the field of Finance & Investments.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, IT, Augmented Reality, Social Media, Clean Technology, Food and Beverages, Fintech, Big data. Investments: My Child, WittyFeed, PumpKart, Deyor Camps, Ketto, Nimo Planet, Falcon Labs, Josh Talks, Inc42 Media, SectorQube, and many.
Ritesh Malik | Angel Investors in Delhi
Ritesh Malik, the Co-founder, and MD of Innov8 practised as a professional doctor at the esteemed Ganga Ram Hospital, before venturing into his entrepreneurial journey. He is an active and prominent angel investor in Delhi. He also Co-founded Adstuck Consulting Pvt Ltd, a digital transformation agency.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, E-commerce, Internet, Big Data, SaaS Investments: Ola, Gigstart, UrbanClap, Bira 91, Belong, Bewakoof, Rapido, Razorpay, Fynd, Jugnoo, Mamaearth, Tripoto, LetsVenture among many others.
Kunal Bahl | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Bahl, the Co-founder, and CEO of Snapdeal is the most prominent and active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He is an alum of the prestigious Wharton School of Pennsylvania. Before Snapdeal, he was associated with prominent organizations like Deloitte and Microsoft in the US. He co-founded Jaspers, the parent company of Snapdeal in 2008.
Aloke Bajpai is the Co-founder, and CEO of Ixigo – an Online travel marketplace. He is a keen angel investor based out of Delhi. He is a B.tech graduate in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He served as VP at Final Quadrant Solutions Ltd, by getting engaged in strategic business development and product marketing.
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Markets Interested: Clean technology, Fintech, AI & Robotics, Digital Marketing, Healthcare, Foodtech, Big Data, and Virtual reality Investments: Unocoin, Arya ai, SmartVizx, Rubique, MObilewalla, LogiNext, Rubique, Phonon, Utsav Fashions, Vista Pharma, Auro, and many more.
Neeraj Kumar Singal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Neeraj Kumar Singal, Founder and Director of SEMCO Infratech Pvt ltd and also Lightyear Infratech, is a focused investor in varied fields. He is an active member of IAN (Indian Angel Network), LetsVenture, and HBS Alumni Angels. He values innovation and appreciates strategic ideas that can transform the world of Business. He is also well represented at various leadership roles and organizations like FCCI, HBS Club of India, Young President Organisation, AIMA, CII, TiE, Ph.D. Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and many.
Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of IndiaMart, is a prominent entrepreneur and angel investor. He is a well-known member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Being an alum of The Harcourt Butler Technological Institute of Kanpur, he served as a system analyst at HCL Technologies.
Markets interested: Healthcare, Consumer Internet, Mobile, Fin-tech, Food-tech, E-commerce, Media. Investments: Meesho, LifCare, Babygogo, Fashalot, Sheroes, Tripeur, Foodcircle, Just Move, Shuttl, Reify Health among others.
Rahul Garg | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rahul Garg is the Founder & MD at Leo Capital India. He is one of an active business investors in delhi for startups. Being an alumnus of IIT Delhi with a degree in Computer science, his expertise in this field is commendable. He is also associated with TiE, NASSCOM, IIT Mentors, and many other organizations.
Markets Interested: Management Consulting, Product Innovation, Blockchain, global investments, technology management, SaaS, Clean technology, etc., Investments: Betaout, Zippr, Tavaga, Innov8, Testbook, Adpushup, Doormint, LE tote, Rappi, Lead Genius, Proven, NexGear, and many more.
Utsav Somani | Angel Investors in Delhi
Utsav Somani is a prominent angel investor in Delhi via AngelList (an online marketplace of startups and investors). He did his Masters in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from ESADE Business School in 2012. At present, he is also the partner at OB1T Capital (Investment management). He is a well-experienced investor and has been active in the Indian Angel Network.
Investments: Agastha, Rapido, Wizgo, Routofy, Drivezy among many.
Nikunj Jain | Angel Investors in Delhi
Nikunj Jain, the Co-founder and CEO of Zohem (A blockchain-based data exchange protocol) is a warm investor in the Indian Startup industry. He is a keen investor and also a noteworthy entrepreneur. Before zohem, he had co-founded Frankly.me, which is a video microblogging startup along with inoXapps (a gaming startup). Nikunj did his Btech, Textile Technology from the reputed IIT Delhi.
Investments: Touch Talent, Adpushup, Lucideus, and Wishberry.
Amit Ranjan | Angel Investors in Delhi
Earlier, Amit Ranjan had Co-founded Slideshare (Professional content sharing platform). He is now active as the Architect for Digital Locker & OpenForge (e-governance projects) under the Ministry of IT, Government of India.
By being an enthusiast about startups, he mentors them for their growth and development. He played a lead role in commencing the cult of technology “unconferences’ called BarCamps, by organizing India & Asia’s first such event in Delhi.
Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder of Snapdeal, an Indian e-commerce business. Rohit Bansal is one of the prominent investors in the Indian Startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of IIT Delhi with Btech and Mtech in Computer Science. He is skilled in team management, business development, and strategic planning. He not only provides finance to startups via investing in them but also guides them through their journey by mentoring them in areas of sales, product management, competitor analysis, operations, vendor management, and marketing.
Alok Mittal, the Co-founder, and CEO of Indifi Technologies Pvt Ltd is not only among the prominent angel investors but also the founder of Indian Angel Network, a platform that connects startups and investors. He is an alumnus of the University of California and completed his Bachelors in Computer Science from IIT Delhi.
Earlier he had also co-founded JobsAhead.com (leading e-recruitment business), which was later acquired by Monster.com. He also worked with Hughes Software in telecom and internet technologies. He graduated from IIT Delhi and completed his MS and Management of Technology programs from UC Berkeley.
Markets interested: Technology, Consumer internet, Media, Fintech, Travel, Gaming, E-commerce. Investments: Overcart, Serial Innovations, Speakwell, Inc42 Media, Dexl, Silver Push, Little eye labs, Gamezop among many others.
Rajesh Sawhney | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajesh Sawhney, the Co-founder, and CEO of InnerChef (Food Tech Startup) is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor He is also the CEO of GSF, an Indian Capital firm and accelerator which is focused on mobile startups. He has a wider experience in media and entertainment ventures. Earlier he worked as the COO of Times internet ltd, as the president at Reliance Entertainment and around 14 years with BCCL. He created several successful businesses across sectors like TV, eCommerce, and travel.
Markets interested: eCommerce, Consumer Internet, Foodtech, Travel, Education, Social Media, Gaming, Automotive, Fintech. Investments: Flipclass, GamingMonk, White Owl, YumLane, Zophop, IndiaLends, LimeTray, MassBlurb, Rapido, OnlineTyari, Scoopwoop among many.
Kunal Khattar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Kunal Khattar, the Founding Partner of AdvantEdge Partners (Venture Capital Firm), is one of India’s most prominent investors. He also acts as the Director of Rapido, leading a two-wheeler ride-sharing platform. Earlier, he worked as the Marketing Manager at Vodafone. He has also Co-founded ventures like Simply Look.
He is one of the most active angel investors in Delhi, who is always available for any kind of help on sales, business development, communication, and strategic marketing management.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Technology, Digital Media, Technical Continuing Education. Investments: Airwoot, Biosense, HackerEarth, Xapr, Little Eye Labs, ShieldSquare, MobStac, and many.
Samir Sood | Angel Investors in Delhi
Samir Sood, the Co-founder of Venture Highway (Early-stage venture investment firm) is one of an active private investors in Delhi. He served as the Head of Corporate Development, South Asia and Australia at Google. He was also associated with organizations like Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, and Lehman Brothers. He is an MBA graduate from The University Of Chicago and completed his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.
Markets Interested: SaaS, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Social Media, IT, Clean Technology, Gaming. Investments: Alma Connect, Enpower, HashCube, Zuvvu, Pinpuff, Ideophone, Biosense, and many more.
Pranay Gupta | Angel Investors in Delhi
Pranay Gupta is the Co-Founder of 91springboard, India’s leading co-working spaces. He also acted as the Joint CEO at Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship. Before Co-founding 91springboard, he worked with Lehman Brothers and Nomura Securities.
Soaib Grewal acts as an Advisor to AngelList India and is also the Venture Partner at TLabs, a leading startup accelerator and seed investment firm. Before getting associated with TLabs, he acted as Design Mentor at Microsoft Accelerator and also founded BOLd, Design-led investment firm.
Markets interested:E-commerce, Clean Technology, Travel, Real Estate, SaaS, Big data. Investments: Radiowalla, AdvantEdge Club, WittyParrot, Leverage Edu, Alliz Health among many.
Hetal Sonpal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Hetal Sonpal is into mentoring young minds and budding entrepreneurs along with the students of Amity International School in Gurugram. Earlier, he worked with Intel as the Head of Strategic Alliances. From the esteemed Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Hetal obtained his MBA Degree. He possesses relevant knowledge and expertise in his field.
Markets Interested: Social Media, Travel, Foodtech, Automobile, B2B, Internet. Investments: Yaantra, BSquare, RippleCard, Wow Momo, Find my Stay, ChefsNearMe, Ziveg and many more.
Yogesh Bansal | Angel Investors in Delhi
Yogesh Bansal, the Founder, and CEO of ApnaCircle Infotech is a tech missionary with tremendous knowledge and expertise in this field. He holds an MBA Degree in IT & Finance from the University of North Carolina and also founded companies like GeoRapid, GoActiveClub, and Mail Genie. He has got exposure to skills like team building, merger and acquisitions, and serial entrepreneurship.
Markets Interested: Healthcare, Aerospace, Hospitality, Agritech, Real Estate, Foodtech, Travel, Fintech. Investments: X Prime, Unbxd, SmartVizX, IntensAquatica, SquarePlums among many.
Bharat Mehra | Angel Investors in Delhi
Bharat Mehra is the Co-founder of Eatworks. He has major experience in the industry of food and real estate. He is a graduate from the esteemed Alliance Manchester Business School and entails skills in Negotiation, management, sales, and valuation. He is among the leading seed investors in Delhi, who is always an enthusiast to work with people who have passion and zeal to do something new.
Satyan Gajwani, the VP of Times Internet & Board member of Times India Group, is among the prominent investors in Delhi. Times Internet is one of India’s largest digital media companies that possess brands like Mumbai mirror, Gaana, Times of India among many. He is an alumnus of Stanford University. He also acts as a mentor to startups in media planning, market research, strategic planning, and team building.
Markets Interested: Enterprise Software, digital media, fintech, e-commerce, journalism, technology. Investments: Magictap Solutions, NewsBytes, ORO Wealth, Slintel, Vaultedge, Khabri, Yellow ant among many.
Rajat Harlalka | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajat Harlalka, the Co-founder of Bellurbis Technologies (enterprise software platform), is an active angel investor in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Varanasi and IIT Guwahati. He also acts as the operating partner at GSF India and as a mentor to startups. Be it any concept, like Competitive Analysis, Product development, presentation skills, industry trends or technical marketing, Rajant is at the forefront to help you out.
Abhishek Dwiwedi, an Assistant VP of Growth at 1mg.com (Online Pharmacy), is one of the top angel investors in Delhi. He is associated with SternFisher (an Angel Network) as a partner and also served as the Head of Business Development at HealthKart. By being an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, he launched SBD Solutions to organize the fragmented solar photovoltaic & thermal market.
Spinny, a platform for buying used cars, was Founded by Niraj Singh. Earlier, he was associated with Outbox Ventures as a Founding Partner and has also Co-founded Top Yaps, an internet media site. Locus Education, an ed-tech startup that helps students with IIT JEE Preparation was also co-founded by him. Being a graduate in Electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, he has got exposure to various domains. He not only invests in startups but also provides correct guidance for the growth of the venture.
Markets Interested: Fashion, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, Lifestyle, Blogging, Marketing, Food, Logistics. Investments: Campanja, Bea’s of Bloomsbury, Shoto, Tizaro.
Priyanka Gill | Angel Investors in Delhi
Priyanka Gill is the Founder & CEO of POPXo, Women-focused digital media firm). She is a prominent female angel investor in Delhi and entails interest in building brands within the lifestyle market. She is also the founder and CEO of Plixio (Influencer management platform) & Luxeva (Digital guide platform). She completed her Master of Arts from Kings College London and BA (Hons) in English from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
Anirudh Mullick is the head of Recruitment at Sequoia Capital India, where he provides recruiting services to Sequoia’s portfolio companies. He is currently the VP of Sequoia Capital India and is an alumnus of IIPM. Earlier, he served as an Associate Director at Executive Access India. He can help startups find and acquire talents for their development and also guide them through business development and strategic planning.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, SaaS, Small and Medium Businesses, Education, Big Data, Location-Based Services. Investments: Kartrocket, Kraftly, Roposo, talking threads.in, Giveter.com, among many.
Gaurav Kachru – Angel Investors in Delhi
Gaurav, Founder and Managing Partner at 5ideas (an investment firm), is an active private investor in Delhi. Earlier he founded e-commerce startups FashionAndYou and DealsAndYou. Before commencing his entrepreneurial journey, he worked with Manpower Inc as Regional Director for Asia.
Markets interested: Enterprise Software, Travel, Technology, SaaS, Mobile applications, Fintech, Healthcare. Investments: MealHopper, Mind Your Fleet, OnlineTyari, AppVirality, Autowale.
Rajnish Kumar | Angel Investors in Delhi
Rajnish Kumar, the Co-founder and CTO of ixigo.com (travel & hotel booking platform), is one of the prominent angel investors in Delhi. He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and has expertise in Computer Science and Technology. Earlier, he had also founded Traveneus and has an understanding of Mobile applications and Software development. He also served in various roles at Amadeus IT Group in Spain
This was our list of Angel Investors in Delhi. If you are an investor or know any of the investors for startups, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
FAQs
How to get investors for business in India?
Steps to get investors for business in India or investors for startups in India:-
Create a profile on Angel List.
Prepare a record of investors to share your ideas with.
Brush up your networking skills.
Have a classy introduction to your and your business.
Tell them why they should invest in your business.
Where can I find Angel Investors?
Check with the Business Development Center, Community Futures Office or Economic Development Centre where you live; there may be an active group of angelinvestors in your community.
What is an angel investor?
An angel investor is a person who gives capital for a business start-up, normally in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.
How to find investors in Delhi?
You can find out investors in Delhi by Ask Family or Friends, try crowdfunding platforms to find investors.
Startups are a hard cookie to bite in. But for these Indian cricket players, it is just another pitch to show their talent. With this kind of dedication, practice, passion, and talent they have achieved the best in both the fields namely sports and business.
Indian cricket team players have been the face of numerous brands over the years. But with the startup culture flourishing and having a positive environment in the country, many cricket stars are showing interest in new ventures and are backing them up by investing both their time and money into business enterprises they believe are promising and relevant.
Here are some Indian cricketers who have invested in new-age startups:
Also referred to as the God of Cricket this batting maestro has been the face of various brands over the years. After a successful cricketing career of 24 years, Sachin retired in 2013 and started his second innings with several ventures. Here is a look at the startups he has invested in.
Musafir
It is a travel company based in Dubai and was founded in 2007. Sachin was both the stakeholder and the brand ambassador of the company. Sachin Tendulkar exited the company in 2018 with ₹25 crores.
Smaaash Entertainment
Sachin Tendulkar at Smaaash Launch
Founded in 2009 it is a sports simulation technology based on various games like cricket, football, racing, and other recreational activities. It also hosts leisure activities that include a lounge, a spa, dining and music for men, women, and children as well as a gaming mall. The company was shut down in 2020 as the pandemic hit.
Sachin and Sanjay Narang
Sachin collaborated with the famous hotelier Sanjay Narang of the Mars group and opened restaurants. They are situated in the Colaba and Mulund areas of Mumbai and one in Bangalore.
Kerala Blasters of Indian Super League
Sachin Tendulkar at Kerala Blaster Team Unveil
Sachin was the co-owner of the Kerala Blasters franchise of the Indian Super League along with other investors. It’s a football team and the Kerala Football Association has full faith in Sachin’s and his entry is said to bring funding and revival of the game itself in the state. In 2018 Sachin sold his entire stake of ISL Kerala Blaster.
Mumbai Franchise of International Tennis Premier League –
Sachin has been known for his passion for Tennis and is a long time fan. He is the co-owner of the newly-formed Indian Tennis Premier League’s Mumbai Franchise.
Smarton India
Sachin Tendulkar at Smarton Phone Launch
In 2016, Sachin invested in the Bengaluru-based Internet of Things (IoT) company Smartron India and came on board as the brand ambassador of the company.
Yuvraj Singh
After successfully combating a cancerous tumour in his left lung and winning the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh started his foundation, YouWeCan. Established in 2015, it spreads awareness about cancer and the effects of the dangerous disease.
This fabulous batsman of the International Indian Cricket Team has inspired millions with his on-field and off-field batting. In 2011 after winning the World Cup he was diagnosed with cancer but he made an international comeback just in a year with newfound enthusiasm and courage.
YouWeCan Ventures
A part of YouWeCan is the YouWeCan Venture which is an initiative to provide support to budding businessmen. The start was initiated with the help of Nishant Singhal who is both the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer.
In 2017, YouWeCan Ventures backed the online table reservation platform EazyDiner and Yuvraj Singh became the brand ambassador for the app. YouWeCan’s portfolio also includes healthcare marketplace Healthians, Bengaluru-based automotive services marketplace startup Cartisan, Gurugram-based Startup Buddy, an online marketplace for private jets and helicopters JetSetGo and startup incubators and media funds. He also owns a sports-based e-commerce store Sports365.
Virat Kohli is the captain of the Indian cricket team and also the new face of the Indian youth. He is one of the best batsmen in the world right now both on-field and off-field. Virat Kohli has earned accolades on the field and off-field made concrete plans for his retirement. Here is a look at some of Kohli’s Investments.
Wrogn
Virat Kohli started his fashion brand with co-founder Anjana Reddy. It is a youth fashion platform for graphic T-shirts, lightweight denim jackets and collar shirts.
Chisel Gyms
Virat Kohli at Chisel Gym Launch
Known as a fitness freak Virat Kohli has launched Chisel, a chain of fitness gyms and fitness centres. The startup recently introduced technology-enabled workout routines that aimed at addressing the youngsters of information technology workers.
UAE Royals
Virat Kohli at UAE Royals Event
It’s the franchise of the International Tennis Premier League. Virat is the co-owner of the franchise with Neelesh Bhatnagar and Sachin Gadoya. It has availed the 17 times Grand Slam Champion, Roger Federer.
FC Goa
Virat Kohli at FC Goa Launch
It’s the franchise of the Indian Super League and was the first investment made by Virat Kohli at the age of just 25 years. He is the co-owner of this ISL team and holds stakes of 12%.
Zeeva – MuveAcosutics
Virat Kohli – MuveAcoustics
Kohli partnered with Hong Kong-based consumer electronics companyZeeva in order to launch the audio equipment company MuveAcoustics in India.
The former captain of the International Indian cricket team’s both ODI and Test Cricket has ventured into multiple startups and businesses. Here is a look at some of the business ventures of MSD.
Ranchi Rays
It is a Hockey club franchise of the Hockey India League that is co-owned by Dhoni and the Sahara India Pariwar.
Chennaiyin FC
MS Dhoni at Chennaiyin FC Launch
It is a Football club franchise of the Indian Super League that is co-owned by Dhoni, Abhishek Bachchan, and Vita Dani.
Mahi Racing Team India
MS Dhoni at Mahi Racing Team launch
With his interest in bikes, Dhoni has co-partnered this World Super Bike Championship team with Akkineni Nagarjuna.
SportsFit
Dhoni has co-founded his fitness brand in 2012. Sports Fit World Pvt. Ltd is a gym franchise with several stores open and functional in India already.
Cars24
In 2019, M S Dhoni invested in the online used car marketplace Cars24 as a Series D investor.
SEVEN
MS Dhoni at Store Launch of Seven
MS Dhoni has also launched a lifestyle brand SEVEN and owns the shoe section of the brand.
Khatabook
The cricketer has recently invested an undisclosed amount of equity funding in the Bengaluru-headquartered business ledger app, Khatabook.
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricket coach. He was one of the fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time.
Tenvic Sports
Anil Kumble co-founded TENVIC Sports with international table tennis player Vasanth Bharadwaj in 2010. The firm intends at rendering structured coaching to assist kids to stand out in a sport of their choice. It also caters to businesses and sports persons by providing training and mentoring, along with vision and ideas to help brands improve leverage in their marketing. Its clientele includes schools like Pearson and Delhi Public School. Corporate clients include IBM, Weber Shandwick, Accenture, Pepsi, HP, etc.
Kapil Dev was the captain of India’s first World Cup-winning team. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest all-rounders to play the game, he is also regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time.
PeopleEasy.com
As an angel investor, Kapil Dev has invested in online grocery startup PeopleEasy.com.
Samco Ventures
Kapil Dev – Samco Ventures
In 2015, the former Indian cricketer turned into a venture investor after picking up a stake in Mumbai-based Samco Ventures.
WizCounsel
Last year, Delhi-based online market network WizCounsel raised INR 1 Cr in an angel round led by the cricketer among others.
VAOO
Kapil Dev – Vaoo
Kapil Dev has also invested in VAOO, a Mumbai-based cab aggregator which offers free rides to passengers in return for viewing advertisements.
Conclusion
Indian cricketers have invested in numerous startups. Some of them are well-known and recognized in India. These startups are successful and also help the people in need. Startups like YouWeCan is helping cure cancer patients. Such startups should be encouraged as they help in the betterment of society and people in need. Many cricketers are trying their hand in startups and helping society. We can see many more startups invested by Indian cricketers in future.
FAQ’s
Do cricketers invest?
Yes, many Indian cricket legends, like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli have invested in various startups.
What business does Sachin Tendulkar have?
Sachin Tendulkar has invested in startups like Musafir and Smaaash entertainment. The god of cricket also co-owns Kerala Blasters.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by ImpactGuru.
Would you have been able to imagine a crowdfunding startup to be able to meet all your healthcare needs? This is where ImpactGuru comes in. In a survey carried out by NSO in July 2017-June 2018, it was found that only 14% of the rural population and 19% of the urban population had health expenditure coverage. Again, according to an analysis published in The Lancet in 2018, around 1.6 million people in India die due to inadequate healthcare. The Indian healthcare segment is clouded by many such disturbing data. However, it is good to see that not just the Government, but many NGOs and startups are coming up to solve the long prevailing issues in the healthcare sector. Today we are talking about one such startup, that is making a remarkable attempt to make quality healthcare accessible even to the poorest, through crowdfunding. Mumbai-based ImpactGuru is not just helping people to raise funds for healthcare, but for various other social and personal causes as well.
In order to scale the fundraising for PPE for doctors, nurses and health care workers across India, ImpactGuru received INR. 40 lakh grant in the form of matching funds from The Action Covid-19 Team (ACT). The company added up to 20% in matching donations via the ACT Grant on every single donation for selected Public and Private Hospitals on its platform.
6th October 2021 – ImpactGuru witnessed a rise in people seeking financial help for treatment. Around 25,000 patients have been assisted so far by ImpactGuru and half of these patients were assisted post-January 2020.
2nd October 2021 – ImpactGuru has successfully crowdfunded over Rs. 75 lakh cumulatively contributed by over 700 donors in 2 weeks to cover treatment expenses of 2 brothers fighting Hunter’s Syndrome.
“An ImpactGuru is someone who envisions change, who finds solutions to social problems, who steps up to support another change-maker, who makes kindness a habit, who dares to follow his/her dream, or who simply helps out a friend in need. We believe that each individual holds the power to effect great change and given the right tools and the right backing, can become an ImpactGuru himself/herself ” quotes ImpactGuru CEO Piyush Jain.
ImpactGuru Logo
Starting a fundraiser campaign in ImpactGuru is easy. One just has to get started by clicking on the ‘Start a Fundraiser’ tab on the ImpactGuru website or app, fill in the required details to create the fundraiser campaign. Using ImpactGuru’s story builder feature, one can put up one’s cause of raising money in an appealing way to attract more donors.
Once created, the fundraiser campaign is shared online. The money received from the donors is transferred to the beneficiary’s account after deducting the applicable fee and charges.
Fundraising on ImpactGuru
ImpactGuru – Industry Details
India’s private healthcare spend stands at $90 billion a year. Of this, merely one-third is covered by insurance and the balance of $60 billion is met largely with borrowings from friends and family. Capturing 10% of this segment would mean a medical crowdfunding market of around $6 billion. This is the segment ImpactGuru is looking to tap.
Healthcare crowdfunding is the most disruptive solution to address this problem. There are no loans or interest to be paid off when it comes to crowdfunding as funds raised online is considered as a donation.
ImpactGuru – The Idea of Starting up
The idea began to form in Piyush’s mind while he was working with Instilgo, a US-based non-profit organization.
“When I decided to go to Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, I found my calling when I accepted a fellowship with Instiglio, a US non-profit focused on using social impact bonds to help non-profits scale” recalls ImpactGuru founder PiyushJain.
Besides, while at Harvard, Piyush assisted his Professor in teaching a class on financial management in non-profit Organizations. He also co-authored a paper on – ‘Non-Equity Financing for Entrepreneurial Ventures’. For writing the research paper, Piyush had to explore different avenues to finance social initiatives. During this research, Piyush realized that the crowdfunding market in Indian is largely untapped and it is his willingness to do something in the field of crowdfunding that made him start ImpactGuru.
Fortunately, both Khushboo and Piyush shared the same vision. Piyush’s knowledge of finance and technology clubbed with the brand, marketing and communications skillsets of Khushboo had garnered over the years. It does require a fantastic partnership and they have been very lucky to forge that successfully.
The startup was incubated at Harvard Innovation Lab in August 2014 and at PACT, Singapore in May 2015.
Impactguru founders – Khushboo Jain and Piyush Jain
ImpactGuru was founded by a couple of entrepreneurs, Piyush Jain and Khushboo Jain.
ImpactGuru founder and CEO Piyush Jain is a BSc in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School. He did Masters in Public Policy, Business and Government Policy from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Piyush worked with reputed organizations like JP Morgan, Instiglio, San Francisco based fintech firm SoFi, the Boston Consulting Group and RB Investments, before starting ImpactGuru in 2017.
ImpactGuru co-founder and COO Khushboo Jain come from a fashion designing and fashion marketing background. Khushboo is an alumna of London College of Fashion, University of Arts London and Parsons School of Design. Khushboo did her Bachelors in Commerce from Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, and an MBA from Welingkar Institute of Management. Prior to joining her husband in his venture, Khusboo worked with brands like Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited and fashion brands like TheLabelLife.com and Manish Malhotra.
Piyush is backed by an awesome and dedicated team who truly stand with the vision and mission of ImpactGuru. Some core members of the ImpactGuru team are-
Vikas Kaul, the Chief Product Officer of ImpactGuru is an IIMK graduate. He is an ex-employee of Quikr and Deloitte.
Ankita Kumari is Vice President, Operations at ImpactGuru. She is an engineering graduate from Amity University Noida and an ex-employee of PSTakeCare and TinyOwl.
Sandeep Tripathy – Head, Business Development, Ex- PSTakeCare, IIT Bombay.
ImpactGuru – USP
What makes ImpactGuru stand out is that they are the only crowdfunding platform to have their own story builder to help customers write great stories as it’s a major pain point in the industry today. It has an AI-supported story builder for medical fundraisers, with a template for all campaigners to develop their own standardized campaign stories. It’s a first in the world innovation in crowdfunding globally!
ImpactGuru is also the first crowdfunding player in India to launch a smartphone app for customers. The app presents the user with a quick view of their fundraiser, thus enabling them to keep track of the progress of the campaign, get real-time donation notifications and post updates.
ImpactGuru.com has become the largest crowdfunding platform in India for medical expenses. In total, ImpactGuru has raised around INR 950 Crore from over 2 lakh donors from 150 countries.
ImpactGuru – No Platform Fee
ImpactGuru has extended free fundraising to all causes by offering a 0% platform fee. It has Mobilized $200 million/INR.1500 crores through its platform and global partners, since inception.
Free fundraising is made available to all types of fundraisers who are hosted on the platform – It can be patients with medical emergencies (Covid-19, organ transplant, cancer) or NPOs/Individual fundraising programs for any causes. By this, ImpactGuru has completely waived off-platform fees with an intention to maximize the funds raised by fundraisers.
In order to sustain the platform and meet operational activities to provide a free fundraising platform, donors will be asked to provide any amount of voluntary tips.
In a joint statement ImpactGuru.com’s Co-Founders Piyush Jain and Khushboo Jain said, “In the last 5 years, crowdfunding on ImpactGuru has now become the preferred way for people to finance critical illness bills at hospitals given the low level of insurance penetration in India. With the extension of our free fundraising options to all fundraisers, we hope to accelerate our ambition of helping finance the critical illnesses of over 1 million / 10 lakh patients over the next decade.”
ImpactGuru – Business and Revenue Model
But how does ImpactGuru make money? It has a highly scalable, asset-light, transparent revenue model. It charges an average of 8% of total funds raised as to its fees with 5% directly being net revenue. It charges additional fixed fees for premium services such as digital marketing, video, content support.
I was keen on a business model that would add value and meaning to the community. Our vision is to make sure that nobody in India has to ever struggle to fund their medical treatment due to lack of money. – Piyush Jain
ImpactGuru offers various packages that one can opt for fundraising.
ImpactGuru – Challenges Faced
Social problems are so immense in India, that often one can get disillusioned by the impact one creates i.e. whether one’s intervention is moving the needle or not. There are many challenges and dilemmas that the ImpactGuru team needs to face on a day-to-day basis. This is what Piyush has to say regarding the issues the team faces-
At ImpactGuru, we often face an ethical dilemma. Private hospitals will not proceed with treatment without the funds, say of 5 children whom are near death without a critical emergency surgery. It is an overwhelming feeling as we will be disappointing someone or maybe more as we have limited resources as an organization and limited donors to reach out to fund each of the 5 surgeries successfully. How to handle the mental pressure and how to execute the task is the pressing concern. It’s very important to keep the perspective that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We thus pick cases where we can have the maximum impact given the short time. We select cases such as transplant, heart surgeries, cancer rather than dengue, malaria, diarrhoea.
ImpactGuru has raised a total of $4.5M in funding over 5 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Mar 6, 2020, from a Seed round.The ImpactGuru funding details are mentioned below:
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
April 2016
Pre-Seed Round
$500K
RB Investments Pvt Ltd (Singapore based VC Fund)
November 2017
Seed Round
–
Venture Catalysts
May 2018
Series A
$2Million
Apollo Hospitals Group, Currae Healthtech Fund, RB Investments, Shorooq Investments, Venture Catalysts with participation from various other investors from the USA, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East
December 2018
Series A
$2Million
Shorooq Partners
May 2020
Seed Round
–
Rajesh Mane
ImpactGuru – Partners
ImpactGuru has a strategic partnership with GlobalGiving.org, the world’s largest non-profit crowdfunding platform based in the US and UK in October 2016. It is the only crowdfunding platform in the world that can offer Indian, US, and UK tax benefits to Indian and international donors.
ImpactGuru team with GlobalGiving
ImpactGuru has also partnered with Apollo patients nationwide which makes it the preferred crowdfunding platform for all.
Recently, in early July 2021 Cure SMA Foundation of India, a public charitable trust has collaborated with ImpactGuru. The partnership is to support all its registered SMA patients in India.
In April 2016, ImpactGuru partnered with Fundnel, an investment platform based in Singapore. This partnership allowed ImpactGuru to tap into philanthropic and investment capital from the Indian diaspora based in Southeast Asia.
In September 2016, ImpactGuru partnered with UN Women (an entity of United Nations) to run Project Inspire, an initiative to support social entrepreneurs working for women empowerment.
ImpactGuru – Awards and Achievements
ImpactGuru has won the following awards worldwide.
Khushboo Jain featured as a Leading Woman in Business 2021 List by The Economic Times & Femina.
Khushboo Jain was recognized as Social Activist For Indefatigable Service During Covid-19 Crisis by the Punjab Govt. Dept Of Health & Family Welfare.
Piyush Jain featured in 2021 List of Nationwide Awards 40 Under 40.
Awarded as Best Social Impact Startup by Drivers Of Digital Awards.
Awarded as Best Digital Startup by Drivers Of Digital Awards.
Piyush & Khushboo Jain featured in 2019 List of Fortune India 40 Under 40.
NITI Aayog & United Nations – 2019 Women Transforming India Awards featured Khushboo Jain in Winning Top 15.
Recognized among top 5 startups in India and raised investment funding on live TV on Tie The Knot: Real Funding, Unreal Speeds, CNBC TV18’s longest-running shows – Young Turks.
ImpactGuru was declared the winner of Maharashtra Startup Week 2019, organized by the Maharashtra State Innovation Society.
BusinessworldTectors Awards 2018 – Tech Companies To Watch Out For.
TechCircle 2018 Public Choice Award for Best Social Impact Startup award.
MedAchievers HEALTH NXT 2018 Rising Startup Award.
2018 Top 3 Startups in West Zone, Start Smart Awards 2018.
Businessworld BW Disrupt Social Woman Entrepreneur Award.
Expanding business in Middle East markets is the next on the cards with the help of some investors from the region who have recently invested in the company.
I’m on a mission to make healthcare accessible to all and save more lives and cast the ImpactGuru net across geographies.
ImpactGuru – FAQs
What is ImpactGuru?
ImpactGuru is a Mumbai-based crowdfunding startup that offers a platform to raise funds for healthcare to social enterprises, NGOs, startups and individuals.
Who is the founder of ImpactGuru?
ImpactGuru was founded by a couple of entrepreneurs, Piyush Jain and Khushboo Jain.
How does ImpactGuru make money?
ImpactGuru charges a minimum of 5% fee on the funds raised by individuals on the platform.
What is ImpactGuru funding?
ImpactGuru has raised a total of $4.5M in funding over 5 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Mar 6, 2020, from a Seed round.
What documents are required to run a fundraiser on ImpactGuru?
NGOs: If you’re raising funds for an NGO, you will be required to submit your 12A certificate and 80G certificate. If you wish to receive foreign donations please also share your valid FCRA certificate.
Individuals (medical causes): If you’re an individual looking to raise funds for medical expenses you will be required to submit the patient’s identity details, test reports and invoice (if any), hospital/clinic name doctor’s name & contact details, beneficiary’s bank account details.
Individuals (other causes): For individuals looking to raise funds for other personal causes please share your identity proof and bank account details. It would help your fundraiser if you could provide any other documents that would validate your fundraising need.
Is ImpactGuru a legitimate site?
Yes, ImpactGuru is a legitimate and legal site.
Is ImpactGuru genuine?
Yes, all the cases are genuine. ImpactGuru itself verifies them to make sure that their platform is safe for both campaigners and donors.
Bangalore, the silicon valley of India, is one of the most famous Indian cities for entrepreneurs. In this post, we have listed some of the most prominent angel investors in Bangalore whom you can reach out to. You will get to know about their background and the sectors they like to invest in. You can contact these angel investors in Bangalore via their LinkedIn and AngelList profile.
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Abhishek Gupta did his engineering from IIT, Varanasi in 1999. After completing engineering, Abhishek joined Oracleas an Associate Consultant. After working there for 4 years, he joined GlobalLogic. He then switched to a new company after working at GlobalLogic for almost 4 years and joined Lime Labs India as VP Technology. Later in 2011, he became the Head of Accelerator at TLabs. Now, Abhishek Gupta is the COO at TLabs and also serving as a Board member of MintM Inc. and GradeUp. Moreover, he likes to work as an angel investor for startups.
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Binny Bansal – Angel Investor in Bangalore | founder of Flipkart
One of the most famous names in the Indian entrepreneurial world, Binny Bansal started off at Sarnoff as a Software Engineer in 2005 after completing engineering from IIT, Delhi. In 2007, he switched to Amazonat the same position. However, after working there for 9 months, he along with his colleague, Sachin Bansal, came up with a new idea. They duo founded Flipkart. Binny recently left the company and co-founded another startup called Xto 10x Technologies. Binny Bansal also serves as an advisor to many companies. Binny Bansal has invested in a lot of Indian startups as an angel investor.
Phanindra Sama- Angel Investors in Bangalore & founder of redBus
Phanindra did his engineering from BITS, Pilani. He then started working as a design engineer at ST Microelectronics. After working 2 years, he joined another company called Texas Instruments at the same position. In 2006, Phanindra Sama co-founded redBus and served as the CEO for 8 years. Phanindra now serves as the Chief Innovation Officer for Government of Telangana.
Markets Interested: Mobile Consumer Internet, SaaS, Enterprise Software, Productivity Software, FinTech Investments: AdPushup, Apptimize, Kwench Global Technologies, PrettySecrets, ReTargeter
Krishna Jha – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Krishna Jha completed his education in Mumbai from St. Xavier’s College. He founded ITFinity Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in 1999. He then became the head of OnMobile and served in that capacity for almost 2 years. Krishna Jha now serves as the President of Telnet ventures.
Markets Interested: Enterprise Software, Big Data, Cloud Computing & Infrastructure, Energy Storage, PaaS, Security, SMS Databases, Developer APIs. Investments: Archer Technologies, Bira 91, Buildsupply, CloudByte, Dhama Innovations, Eband Communications
Sameer Brij Verma – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Sameer did his engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. He started his career as an engineering intern at Spectranet. He went on to do many internships in various companies in the engineering field. Sameer then became the founder and CEO of Breakthrough Capital and now serves as the board member and investor at many companies including Zolo, Jumbotail, Hasura, Myupchar, and Unacademy.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Healthcare, SaaS Investments: Must See India, Avagmah, bookadda.com, Browntape, delyver.com
Ganesh Krishnan – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Ganesh Krishnan completed his engineering from Delhi and later pursued an MBA from IIM. He served as the CEO of Bharti Airtelin 1998. Ganesh is the founder of Portea.com and TutorVista.
Aprameya Radhakrishna- Angel Investors in Bangalore
Aprameya completed his engineering from National Institute of Technology, Karnataka. He started working as Software Engineer at Infosys. But in 2006, Radhakrishna decided to study further and joined IIM for his MBA. In 2008, he began working at Jones Lang LaSalle as the head of business development. After working for 2 years, he founded TaxiForSure in 2010. He remained the director of TaxiForSure till 2015. Now, he’s more into angel investing and also founded another startup called Vokal.
Praveen completed his engineering from BITS, Pilani. He later joined IIM to do his PGDM. In the year 2000, he founded Cross-Tab Marketing Services where he serves as a Director now. In 2013, Praveen Gupta founded Tallenge Inc. and serves as the CEO.
Rajeev Krishnan is an Engineer from National Institute of Technology and later did PGDM from IIM. Before switching his career, Rajeev worked as a Technical Consultant at National Instruments. He then joined the same company and was promoted rapidly. Rajeev now serves as the Country Manager for MTSSystem Corporation. Rajeev has seed funded many startups.
After graduating from IIT, Kanpur, Amit Gupta joined HermanIndustries as a software engineer. He later went on to launch InMobias a co-founder and is now working with Yulu, the cycle rental startup.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile Healthcare, Fintech Industry Investments: ChartIQ, ClearFactr, EarnUp, inDinero, MPOWER Financing, Nowait
Shamir Karkal- Angel Investors in Bangalore
After completing his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, Shamir Karkal joined McKinsey & Co. as a Management Consultant. He then did many high profile jobs before co-founding Sila in 2018.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Mobile Healthcare, Small and Medium Businesses, Healthtech Investments:bigbasket.com, bluestone.com, bookadda.com, delyver.com, DocsApp
Srinivas Anumolu – Angel Investors in Bangalore
After completing his engineering from IIT Madras, Srinivas Anumolu joined IIM Calcutta to do his PGDM. After completing his studies from IIM in 1987, he went to UCLA to pursue an MBA in finance. Srinivas is the Co-founder of TutorVista and Elance (now Upwork). He also served as the director of Amazon India in 2005. All of the startups he has funded in are doing exceptionally well.
Markets Interested:Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile Healthcare, Edtech Investments: Cheapesto, iKaaz Mobile Payments, inthree, KleverKid, LoudCell
Ananda Kallugadde – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Ananda Kallugadde completed his engineering in 1995 from National Institute of Technology. His first job was at Ernst & Young LLP. Later, he worked at a few companies before he helped co-found NeoBytes in 2006. Ananda now works as an Advisor for many companies.
Gaurav Lochan did his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Southern California. He then joined Microsoftas a Software Engineer. In 2012, Gaurav Lochan helped co-found BeetRoute. However, after one year, he joined Flipkart as an Engineering Manager. Gaurav is a Software Engineer at Facebookat present.
Markets Interested:Clean Technology, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile Healthcare Investments: Able Lending, Bring Me That, Instamotor, Mosaic
Nagendra Bhanuprakash – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Prior to launching Strumsoft as a co-founder, Nagendra did his MBA from Massachusetts and worked as a Program Manager at Comverse. He is now the VP of Engineering at Synchronoss Technologies.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Media, Mobile Healthcare, SaaS, Impact Investing Investments: Flintobox, HackerEarth, Little Eye Labs, Pokkt
Brij Bhasin – Angel Investors in Bangalore | founder of Boost Tech
University of Minnesota is where Brij Bhasin completed his engineering and also worked as Research Engineer for 2 years. He later worked as a Product Manager at Pramata Corporation for 6 years. In 2011, Brij Bhasin launched Boost Tech. He left the company after a year and did many high profile jobs in the next 3 years. Brij Bhasin is an Angel Investor and Board Member of multiple companies.
Pradeep Reddy Kamasani – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Pradeep Reddy Kamasani has nearly 2 decades of IT, Business, Sales & Marketing experience in North America, Europe, and Asia. He has been active in the startup ecosystem since 2014. Pradeep is currently the CEO of HunterTech, an IT Services Company based in Bangalore. Pradeep is the founder of 2 startups in addition to being an Angel Investor and Advisor to Edtech, Healthcare, and Tech startups. He is an advisor to Edurev and BeYouPlus. Pradeep is helping small businesses scale to an enterprise level with his Growth Strategy, Marketing Automation, Digital, and Content Marketing Skills. He is Hubspot Inbound Marketing certified.
Markets Interested: Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, Mobile Healthcare, Big Data, Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence Investments: IQLECT, LensBricks, Mad Street Den, Riversilica
Abishek Surendran – Angel Investors in Bangalore
After completing his engineering from VESIT in 2004, Abishek joined Tata Consultancy Services as a security consultant where he remained for 5 years. In 2009, he went to School of Investment and Banking and switched to Intellecap as a Senior Associate. In 2013, Abishek Surendran completed his MBA from IIM and interned at an investment company. He then joined ExfinityVenture Partners as President and stayed for almost 4 years. Abishek is a Partner at pi Ventures.
Rutvik completed his engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He joined CA Technologies as a Software Engineer straight out of college. He worked there for a long time in many positions. He then decided to pursue an MBA from INSEAD in 2006. After completing his MBA in 2007, he joined Google as a Product Manager and worked there for 3.5 years. He was the CEO of Tagge.com in 2010. He now serves as the Managing Director of Inventus Capital India.
Markets Interested: Unified Communications, Social Media, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Social CRM, Advertising Platforms, e-commerce, SaaS, B2B, Deep Information Technology, Disruptive Models Investments: TVInfo.in, Advanced Millennium Technologies, Viva-Lite, Wellness-Shop.com
Toby Ruckert – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Toby Ruckert found SysOp in 1992 and also worked as a Software Tester at IBMat the same time. After that, he became a Board Member at Viva-Lite International Ltd. where he served for 17 years. During that time, he co-found AMT in 2004. Toby Ruckert is the Board Member of many organisations and is the founder and CEO of UIB, which he launched in 2014. Along with a deep interest in business, Toby likes to play music and went to a piano school in 1997.
After doing a diploma in Business Management, Nilesh worked at Nortal as a System Analyst. He found a tech startup in 2000. He later joined Ciscoas a Software Engineer. Nilesh Trivedi did an MBA in 2012 and became an Advisor to many companies. In 2015, he founded another company called IOTLab. Nilesh is an angelinvestor for many startups.
Markets Interested: Recruitment, E-commerce, Media, Tech Industry Investments: iimjobs, Overcart, upRack, ZAPR Media Labs
Sachin Garg – Angel Investors in Bangalore
Sachin Garg is an Engineering dropout who founded his first startup in 1997. He was a Software Product Consultant at TCS, India, and Canada. In 2006, Sachin joined Yale University to do an MBA. After completing his MBA, he became a founding member of GSF Accelerator & Investments. While working on the startup, he also worked as the Product & Business head at Amazon.com. He left both the companies and founded another startup called upRack.com,an e-commerce platform. In 2013, he launched another startup called REXPROP, which was later acquired by BroEx. Sachin now works as a Product and Business Consultant for various companies.
Markets Interested: Impact Investing, CleanTech Industry, Mobile Social Recruiting, Emerging Markets, Healthtech, Information Technology, Mobile Health Investments: Babajob, EyeNetra, Kopo Kopo
Mark Straub – Angel Investors in Bangalore
After completing his education from the University of Virginia in 2004, Mark Straub joined Banc of America Securities as an Analyst. After 2 years, he joined Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund. In 2011, Mark became the Director of Khosla Impact and worked there for 7 years. In 2017, Mark Straub co-founded Smile Identity.
K. Srikrishna started his career in 1988 as a Marketing Manager at National Semiconductor Corporation after doing his Masters and Ph.D. in Engineering from University of California. He was the President and COO of Microcon in 1996. He held several high profile jobs till 2008 when he founded Zebu Group. Srikrishna was the CEO of Zebu Group and became Executive Director of National Entrepreneurship Network in 2011. In 2015, he co-founded Zebu Games and now serves as its CEO.
This was our list of Angel Investors in Bangalore. If you are an investor, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
FAQs
What is meant by angel investors?
An angel investor is an individual who invests in emerging and promising startups. They provide funding for a startup in exchange for an ownership stake in the company.
Who is the founder of Indian Angel Network?
Padmaja Ruparel and Raman Roy are Co-Founders of Indian Angel Network.
How does an angel investor gets repaid?
Angel investors expect to get their money back within a fix straight schedule. The tenure ranges from 5 to 7 years with an annualized internal rate of return (“IRR”) of 20% to 40%.
When you don’t have the necessary funds to launch a startup, the pitch you deliver to potential investors can make the difference between a dream come true, and one swept under the rug.
At the end of the day, the profitability of your business idea weighs the most in the eyes of an investor, but that’s not the only factor you should keep in mind. Affluent investors can receive dozens of great business opportunities every week, and in that case, it’s the quality of the presentation that balances the scales.
Although not all of these common Powerpoint music mistakes are fatal, it’s always a good idea to be prepared. You only have one shot at a good impression, and you don’t want an otherwise brilliant startup idea to go to waste because you didn’t put a few extra hours into your pitch.
Perhaps every entrepreneur out there has fantasized about bumping into an investor in the elevator and convincing them in 60 seconds that their idea is the next big thing. Unfortunately, this is the kind of elevator pitch is one-in-a-million scenario that creates unrealistic expectations.
In reality, you should never deliver a pitch without the investor agreeing to a meeting in advance. Investors are busy people, and they won’t be impressed by your gesture.
Even if you send an unsolicited pitch via email, in 99% of cases, it will go straight to the spam folder, so, to be safe, schedule a meeting to make sure your pitch is actually heard and given the investor’s undivided attention. Also, always make sure you prepare a short and engaging pitch about yourself.
Having a limited Understanding of your Business scope
The worst moment to realize the flaws in your business model is during a pitch meeting. No matter how great your idea sounds in theory, the moment when an investor realizes you don’t know your product or the market, they will lose interest.
Not doing your research comes across as unprofessional and lazy and raises red flags – especially if you don’t have prior experience. So, know your audience, know your product and your competitors because you will 100% be asked about these things and, it will help you deliver a perfect pitch.
Not bringing enough materials
Even if your pitch is short and sweet, the investor will still need documents to back up your claims, provide a roadmap of business development, and expand on aspects that couldn’t be addressed in the meeting. Even if the investor did not request anything specifically, you should still bring with you the following:
Executive summary (a shortened version of the business plan)
Revenue forecast, cash flow, and operational expenses
Resumes for members of the upper management, detailing their experience in the field.
To be extra safe, you should have both digital and physical copies of these documents. Referring to them during the sales pitch shows that you’ve done your homework and that you’re committed to your idea.
Lackluster Presentation Skills
A great presentation can’t turn a bad business idea around, but it can prevent investors from losing interest and forgetting your file in a drawer. Unfortunately, not everyone was endowed with Steve Job’s charisma and presentation skills, which is why the more you rehearse at home, the better.
You never know how you react under pressure, so having a script to refer to can save you from all those umms and errs that weaken your language and make you sound like an intimated high school student. It also helps to keep your presentation short.
Don’t show up to the meeting with a 50-slide presentation filled with large blocks of text. Instead, keep the number of slides to a minimum, use appropriate Powerpoint music, and focus on strong, impactful visual elements. The PowerPoint presentation should include key figures and ideas, but you’re the one controlling the conversation. In general, 15 to 20 minutes is more than enough for the investor to understand your business idea, so structure your pitch around this interval.
Pitch meetings aren’t a one-way street. The investor won’t give you a yes or a no after you delivered a monologue. On the contrary, expect lots of questions and don’t panic if they insist. What makes your idea so special? Why should they pick you out of all people? Can you guarantee that customers want your product? It’s just a way for them to check that you know what you are talking about and clarify some of the things they should know before going into business with you. And, when the questions inevitably get tough and touch on vulnerable points (after all, no business is immune), don’t react negatively.
By working with you, investors are taking a risk, and it’s normal for them to address problematic topics. If you become too defensive, rude, or downright avoid the questions, you may come across as unprepared or difficult to work with. Instead, try to answer difficult questions as transparently as possible and avoid the scripted “I’ll get back to you on that later.”
Making the pitch without a demo
You can’t make a demo for every business idea under the sun but, if your business model allows it, then creating a demo, even a rough one, can make your pitch more persuasive – especially if it’s technology-focused.
First of all, a demo helps investors visualize concepts that may sound difficult in theory. And secondly, it shows that you already have a capable team and that you went the extra mile and that you’re serious about your product.
Many times, investors meet up with entrepreneurs who only have an idea but don’t believe in it enough to put it into practice, so a demo helps you stand out from the crowd.
Forgetting to follow up
No matter how the pitch meeting went, you should take the time to send an email to the investor, thanking them for their time. Avoid generic, template messages and personalize your follow-up in a way that’s relevant for your interaction. It’s a small gesture, but it goes a long way.
FAQ
How long is napkin elevator pitch?
A good elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds.
What is a common mistake of pitching?
The most common mistake you should avoid while pitching is not overloading your audience with information.
How do you end a pitch?
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Mukund Mohan is a 48 year old Indian American Tech Executive and Investor that has been sentenced for perpetuating a scheme to fraudulently obtaining more than $1.8 million worth of Covid 19 disaster relief loans. Mukund Mohan was sentenced to a two-year prison on 25th August by the Western District of Washington. Mukund Mohan is a former Amazon, Microsoft Ventures executive and well-known curator at Vangal.
Before getting caught, Mukund Mohan was a well-known angel investor who was based in Clyde Hill of Washington state. Mukund Mohan completed his education in Computer Science at Mysore University, India and then rose to become the Director of Engineering at Microsoft in America. After that Mohan became an entrepreneur in Bengaluru and also claimed to be the founder of over five companies.
How Mukund Mohan claimed the Covid 19 Relief Funds
To cover up the fraud, the infamous investor was known to have submitted fake and altered documents, which also included fake federal tax filing and incorporation documents with altered information. Mohan initially wanted over $5.5 million through eight fraudulent disaster loan applications and in order to claim these benefits, the fake documents included tax filling of six companies are Zuput, GitGrow, Vangal, Expect Success, Mahenjo Inc and Zigantic LLC.
Only five out of the eight fraudulent loan applications were approved, bringing the total up to $1.8 million. According to sources, the funds were taken in order to help small startups retain their workers during the difficult time of the Covid 19 Pandemic where small startups would not have a steady capital flow. Mohan was arrested in the month of July 2020, for forging fake and altered documents in order to acquire over $5.5 million from Covid relief funds.
Mukund Mohan giving a speech
Based on the complaints, one particular company he applied loans for with misleading statements and false documents was Mohenjo. This company was purchased by Mohan in May 2020, which at the time did not have any employees or business activities. But according to Mohan’s fake documents the company was said to be in operation from the year 2019 and had employees for whom the company paid millions of dollars for employers salaries and payroll taxes.
Mukund Mohan went on to plead on his blog on 14th August 2020 saying that,
“I hurt people who trusted me, believed in me, and now are beside themselves. Unfortunately, I cannot talk about the details given the legal circumstances, but I truly apologise… I own my mistake, and now I have to course correct. Seeking help is what I am doing. I think the road ahead, though, will be very long,” Mukund Mohan.
Mukund Mohan is now accused of perpetuating a scheme to obtain Covid-19 disaster relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program which are under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to the press release of the United States Department of Justice, the techie has now been ordered to pay a fine of $100,000 and $1,786,357 in restitution. Mohan is now pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering with regard to his scheme of obtaining over $5.5 million under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Mukund Mohan’s past claims for fame
This was not the first time Mukund Mohan has been involved with fraud cases, malpractices and fraudulent claims. From 2008 to 2012, Mohan had also made false claims of being a co-founder of over five startups, investing in 11 companies personally and three other companies through Napkin Stage (an investment firm).
Out of the five startups that were said to be found by him, four startups excluding BuzzGain failed as they didn’t raise any funds. Whereas out of the three other companies said to be funded via Napkin Stage, ChargeBee and SignEasy clarified by saying that Napkin Stage was only an advisor and did not fund them.
Ashwini
