Top 41 Active Angel Investors in India
Are you looking for an angel investor to fund your business? Find in this article list of active angel investors in India who are exploring options for funding startups.
Angel investors are generally the earliest equity investments made in startup companies. They are often former entrepreneurs or professionals and they enjoy working with companies at the earliest stages of business formation.
Sometimes angel investors fund startups before the company have a significant number of employees and before there is a completion of a proof of concept of the idea that they intend to commercialize.
Related: Top Active Venture Capital Firms in India
Table of Contents
List of 41 Angel Investors in India
1. Ratan Tata
After retiring as the chairman of the $100 billion Tata Group, India’s one of the most respected businessmen Mr. Ratan Tata is building a different avatar as India’s newest angel investor for startup companies. He has already invested in Grameen Capital, Paytm, CarDekho, Swasth India, Urban Ladder, Bluestone, etc.
2. Anupam Mittal
Founding member of the People Group, which owns established business entities like shaadi.com, makaan.com, Mauj Mobile, and People Pictures. Anupam, one of the most active angel investors in India likes to back businesses that have huge market potential backed by a strong experienced core team. His key interest areas are SaaS, consumer internet, mobile, and marketplaces.
3. Sharad Sharma
Talking of individual angels, one of the best known is Sharad Sharma, former R&D head of Yahoo! India. Investments in rising data backup and analytics firms like Druva and PeelWorks show his tech focus. He is also one of the most active evangelists in the Indian startup ecosystem, being a co-founder of iSPIRT (Indian Software Product Industry Round Table).
4. Rajan Anandan
The Google India MD – who is of Sri Lankan origin – is also one of the most experienced individual angel investors in India. He has backed more than 40 Indian startups, the most recent one being SocialCops, which provides data analytics for a better administration of welfare schemes. A number of companies in his portfolio have a social focus.
5. Ravi Gururaj
He chairs the product council of NASSCOM, the country’s biggest software industry association. Gururaj has been a successful entrepreneur himself with two exits from startups that were acquired by US companies. He is now a leading member on several angel platforms. His current focus is on driving the 10000 Startups program backed by NASSCOM and Google.
6. Sanjay Mehta
He is an active member of the Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures, and Venture Nursery. Sanjay Mehta is sector agnostic and generally invests in the idea and the team. Sanjay is also the founder of the CIO Angel Network (CAN). He brought almost 50 IT Heads of prominent Indian companies on the common platform to invest and mentor in their individual capacity. His key interest areas are marketing automation, productivity, consumer services, and technology.
7. Sunil Kalra
He is a member of the Indian Angel Network and a founding member of and Board of Governors, at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES). His key interest areas are technology, education, healthcare, logistics, eCommerce, and mobile
8. Rajesh Sawhney
Rajesh is the co-founder of InnerChef, India’s fastest-growing food tech platform. Also, he is the founder of GSF, India’s leading multi-city Tech-Startup Accelerator for the brightest tech startups in India. GSF provides tech startups mentorship from celebrated digital founders, initial capital, and global exposure. His key interest areas are technology, the internet, mobile, digital media, and ad tech.
9. Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani is the co-founder and ex-chairman of Infosys. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes ShopX, Mubble, and Fortigo Network.
10. Ashish Gupta
Ashish Gupta is the co-founder of Helion Venture Partners. He has invested in over 60 startups in India. It includes MakeMyTrip, PubMatic, and Toppr.
11. TV Mohandas Pai
TV Mohandas Pai is the former CFO of Infosys. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes Zoomcar, Swiggy, and BYJU’s.
12. Padmaja Ruparel
Padmaja Ruparel is the co-founder of the Indian Angel Network. She has invested in over 100 startups in India. It includes FabHotels, Wow! Momo, and Purplle.
13. Sasha Mirchandani
Sasha Mirchandani is the founder and managing director of Kae Capital. He has invested in over 60 startups in India, including Myntra, BookMyShow, and Urban Ladder.
14. Kunal Bahl
Kunal Bahl is the co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes Ola, Unacademy, and UrbanClap.
15. Anand Ladsariya
Anand Ladsariya is the founder and CEO of Everest Flavours Ltd. He has invested in over 40 startups in India. It includes Swiggy, Byju’s, and BigBasket.
16. Bhavish Aggarwal
Bhavish Aggarwal is the Co-founder and CEO of Ola. He has invested in over 10 startups in India. It includes UrbanClap, Hapramp, and LetsVenture.
17. Ankit Bhati
Ankit Bhati is the Co-founder and CTO of Ola. He has invested in over 5 startups in India. It includes Innov8, Ather Energy, and Vogo.
18. Anirudh Damani
Anirudh Damani is the Managing Partner at Artha Venture Fund. He has invested in over 40 startups in India. It includes LenDenClub, MyUpchar, and OYO Rooms.
19. Gaurav Jain
Gaurav Jain is Managing Partner at A91 Partners. He has invested in over 30 startups in India. It includes Licious, Open, and OfBusiness.
20. Mohit Saxena
Mohit Saxena is the Co-founder and CTO of InMobi. He has invested in over 10 startups in India. It includes Meesho, Unacademy, and MyGate.
21. Shekhar Kirani
Shekhar Kirani is a Partner at Accel Partners. He has invested in over 40 startups in India. It includes Freshworks, Flipkart, and BookMyShow.
22. Amitabh Kant
Amitabh Kant is the CEO of NITI Aayog. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes Hapramp, DailyNinja, and Unnati.
23. Aprameya Radhakrishna
Aprameya Radhakrishna is the Co-founder and CEO of Vokal. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes Jumbotail, DailyHunt, and Koo.
24. Varun Dua
Varun Dua is the Founder and CEO of Acko General Insurance. He has invested in over 10 startups in India. It includes Khatabook, BharatPe, and Locus.
25. Ritesh Malik
Ritesh Malik is the Founder and CEO of Innov8 Coworking. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes Fynd, Droom, and Medulance.
26. Rohit Bansal
Rohit Bansal is the Co-founder of Snapdeal. He has invested in over 10 startups in India. It includes Unacademy, Ola Electric, and RailYatri.
27. Naveen Tewari
Naveen Tewari is the Founder and CEO of InMobi. He has invested in over 10 startups in India. It includes Delhivery, Uniphore, and LetsTransport.
28. Anup Jain
Anup Jain is the managing partner at Orios Venture Partners. He has invested in over 20 startups in India. It includes PharmEasy, The Moms Co., and OpenSecrets.
29. Pankaj Jain
Pankaj Jain is a partner at 500 Startups India. He has invested in over 50 startups in India. It includes ZipDial, Tala, and Little Eye Labs.
30. Vikram Gupta
Vikram Gupta is the Founder and Managing Partner at IvyCap Ventures. He has invested in over 50 startups in India. It includes Purplle, Furlenco, and Clovia.
31. Alok Goyal
Alok goyal is a partner at Stellaris Venture Partners. He has invested in over 30 startups in India. It includes Whatfix, Loadshare, and Tricog.
32. Shailendra Singh
Shailendra Singh is the Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India. He has invested in several startups. It includes Zomato, Ola, and Mu Sigma.
33. Karthik Reddy
Karthik Reddy is the Co-founder of Blume Ventures. He has invested in several startups. It includes GreyOrange, Servify, and Exotel.
List of Best Angel Investment Networks
34. Indian Angel Network
This is the country’s oldest network of angel investors, which started in 2006. Last year, it signed 18 term sheets and completed 11 deals in a broad range of companies from food tech startup Mukunda to an online marketplace for cooperative and community-based producers GoCoop. It runs an incubator too and ventured into Sri Lanka and the UK recently.
35. Mumbai Angels
This one too dates back to 2006 when angel investing was still a new phenomenon in a conservative Indian setup. Adtech company InMobi and fashion eStore Myntra, recently acquired by Flipkart, were some of its early bets. One of its first members was Sasha Mirchandani, who went on to found venture capital firm Kae Capital. Mumbai Angels made 14 investments last year.
Read: How to Raise Small Business Capital from Investors
36. Harvard Angels
India-based Harvard alumni formed this network in Bangalore in 2011. They have been mostly focused on tech startups in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. What differentiates them is the strength of the alumni network, which has chapters in several countries. The HBS Angels annual conference in Silicon Valley brings together global chapter leaders for sharing and collaboration.
37. Chennai Angels
This is another angel network with a proven track record. It has become more active recently, with seven startup investments last year, from bus ticketing platform TicketGoose and Edtech startup Skyfi Labs to bioinformatics company Xcode. Chennai is also the home of IIT Madras, (Indian Institute of Technology, Madras) which acts as a hub for technopreneurs.
38. Hyderabad Angels
Another regional angel network growing fast is in Hyderabad, the capital of the recently formed state of Telangana. The Telangana government is committed to promoting a startup hub in a part of Hyderabad that is known as Cyberabad. Local activity and tour discovery platform Thrillophilia is one of the companies Hyderabad Angels invested in last year.
39. India Quotient
This one is an institutional investor but its focus on pre-revenue early-stage startups makes it more like an angel. Started by Anand Lunia, who was earlier with Seedfund, India Quotient has made recent investments in consumer-oriented companies like property portal Grabhouse and pet network Dogspot.
40. Saama Capital
A leading venture capital firm in India, Saama Capital has invested in over 70 startups in India. It includes Paytm, Veeba Foods, and Vedantu.
41. Seedfund
Again this is a venture capital firm that is focused on early-stage investments, and it had some big-ticket ones like RedBus. One of the co-founders is Mahesh Murthy, a familiar figure in the Indian startup ecosystem and a prolific writer. He went from selling vacuum cleaners to becoming a creative director in advertising before striking it rich in Silicon Valley.
