IAN invests close to USD 50 million in startups in 2016

Moneycontrol Bureau

India's largest angel association Indian Angel Network (IAN) invested close to Rs 340 crore in seed and early stage deals during 2016. The network invested in about 30 deals, averaging three deals a month, many of which were follow on rounds in existing portfolio startups.

IAN has a membership base of about 450 investors. In dollar terms, the network invested close to USD 50 million in startups, this year. IAN has invested in over 55 ventures over the last two years.

"For IAN, the momentum of 2015 only intensified in 2016 and we analysed over 7,000 entrepreneurs, addressing both local and global opportunities with ever more innovative technologies and business models. It is time for investors to come out of the woodwork,” says Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder, Indian Angel Network and past Chairman of Nasscom said.

In 2016, IAN invested in mobile advertising platform PayTunes, legal advisor firm Lawrato, backpacker hostels chain Roadhouse Hostels, tech-enabled fashion venture 6Degree, Delhi-based city guide Little Black Book, robotics firm SP Robotics Works, faship app Styledotme, and marketplace for architectural services Staqu, etc. 

IAN invested in sectors which are plugging gaps in the value chains of ecommerce, education, healthcare, gaming, hospitality, media, IT, lifestyle, transportation, biotech and mobile services startups.

"It has been a great year for us,. On the other hand, IAN has helped investors build a risk hedged portfolio spread across sectors, stages, geographies, enabling the kicker in Investor portfolios," Padmaja Ruparel, cofounder and President, Indian Angel Network said.

While seed deals were on a rise, late stage deals fell in 2016. According to data by analyst firm Venture Intelligence, VC investments in nine months of 2016 dropped 24 percent to 290 deals (worth USD 1 billion) compared to 381 deals (worth USD 1.5 billion) in the same period 2015. Follow @startup_18