The capital drought continued to create appreciable headwinds for the Indian startup ecosystem in 2023 as properly, placing a dampener on funding raised by new-age tech corporations and slowing down the launch of recent ventures.
Funding secured by startups hit a seven-year-low in 2023, backsliding to 2017 ranges. As per Inc42 information, Indian startups raised a mere $10 Bn throughout 897 offers final 12 months, down from the $13 Bn raised throughout 996 offers in 2017. As evitable, the YoY investor participation in startup funding offers additionally witnessed a significant decline.
Nevertheless, a majority of entrepreneurs who participated in Inc42’s founders’ survey 2023 opined that funding troubles might begin to taper off to some extent within the second half of 2024. And this optimism is just not with no purpose. Regardless of a number of challenges, India maintained its place because the third-largest world tech startup ecosystem, boasting greater than 68,000 startups and 9,700-plus buyers.
Not simply this, Indian startups have created greater than 10 Lakh jobs up to now decade. And it’s this sense of optimism that buyers are banking on to seize the subsequent large factor within the Indian startup ecosystem.
Additionally, what might come in useful is the $23 Bn price of funds that have been raised between 2021 and 2023. Curiously, a good portion of those funds are nonetheless ready to be deployed as greater than one-third of buyers did not allocate even 50% of their startup fund corpus.
Whereas that is the long run outlook, what’s vital is to have a look at the buyers that navigated the antagonistic market circumstances final 12 months to announce a considerable variety of offers. These buyers stood out for his or her unwavering religion within the Indian startup ecosystem and continued to instil a way of confidence among the many stakeholders.
With that mentioned, we convey you the record of the highest startup buyers of 2023.
Notice: This rating is predicated on information consolidated from Inc42’s Investor Rating & Sentiment Surveys [2023, H1 2023 & Q3 2023], and offers recorded within the Inc42 database.
High Startup Buyers Of 2023
AngelList India
In 2023, AngelList India accomplished 180 offers, recording the very best deal depend on the earth’s third-largest startup ecosystem. Throughout the 12 months, the angel community backed healthtech startup CareFi, fintech startup EquityList, homegrown beer model Proost Beer, and hyperlocal over-the-top (OTT) platform STAGE, simply to depend a number of.
Based in 2009 by Naval Ravikant, AngelList lets buyers contribute as little as $1,000 alongside accredited backers via funding syndicates. It rolled out an India-focussed enterprise and angel fund in 2019.
AngelList launched the idea of a rolling fund within the US in 2020, offering an progressive various to the standard VC mannequin. This method aimed to streamline the method for rising enterprise capitalists, providing them a faster path to provoke and finalise their preliminary offers.
LetsVenture
LetsVenture introduced 159 offers in 2023. Some distinguished names wherein it invested in the course of the 12 months are the mum or dad firm of the restaurant provide chain administration startup SupplyNote, Adcount Applied sciences; homegrown fast service restaurant chain Burger Singh; D2C magnificence and private care startup Clensta, and full stack battery platform The Power Firm, amongst others.
Based in 2013 by Shanti Mohan and Sanjay Jha, LetsVenture is a startup funding market that enables buyers to discover and put money into startups via its proprietary expertise platform. It facilitates startups in search of funding to develop investment-ready profiles on the web and set up connections with accredited buyers.
LetsVenture is backed by buyers comparable to Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, Mohandas Pai, Rishaad Premji, Shaadi.com cofounder Anupam Mittal, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, and PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam.
The agency boasts a sturdy community comprising over 34,000 startups and 18,000 buyers. Its portfolio startups declare a mixed valuation of $9.6 Bn
Stride Ventures
Essentially the most lively enterprise debt investor of 2023, Stride Ventures, introduced 110 offers in 2023. A number of the most distinguished startups that it in the course of the 12 months are fintech unicorn Slice, cloud kitchen unicorn Insurgent Meals, fintech startup OneStack, and mobility startup Chalo.
Based in 2019 by Ishpreet Gandhi, the Delhi-based enterprise debt agency invests in startups working in numerous sectors comparable to fintech, agritech, B2B commerce, healthtech, B2B SaaS, mobility and vitality options.
The fund has invested in over 100 startups throughout sectors comparable to shopper web, SaaS, fintech, and B2B platforms. A few of its portfolio corporations embody SUGAR Cosmetics, Mensa Manufacturers, Exotel, The Good Glamm Group, Yubi, HealthifyMe, Ace Turtle, Insurgent Meals, and Waycool.
In 2023, Stride Ventures introduced the primary shut of its third debt fund at $100 Mn. The agency was focusing on a last shut of greater than $200 Mn for the fund, which is backed by institutional buyers, together with banks, insurance coverage corporations, and household places of work.
The fund goals at making prudent investments in fast-growing startups that exhibit strong enterprise fashions, sturdy unit economics, and expert administration groups.
Alteria Capital
One other enterprise debt agency, Mumbai-headquartered Alteria Capital introduced 107 offers in 2023. Throughout the 12 months, the enterprise debt agency supplied capital to B2B market Jumbotail, D2C jewelry startup Giva, ecommerce roll-up unicorn Mensa, ebike producer EMotorad, and D2C backpack startup Mokobara, amongst others.
The fund was began in 2017 by Ajay Hattangdi and Vinod Murali, who served Silicon Valley Financial institution India in numerous management roles. Alteria Capital is a enterprise debt fund focussed on progressive startups backed by giant VC corporations.
At present, Alteria Capital is seeking to increase $80 Mn to $100 Mn for the shorter length scheme of its third fund. It will take the combination capital pool of Fund 3 to $275 Mn to $300 Mn.
The fund will help fintech, shopper, and B2B platforms, particularly these with liquidity wants for stock build-up, receivables and ebook money owed
We Founder Circle
Angel funding networking platform We Founder Circle introduced 103 offers in 2023. It backed coliving startup Settl, SaaS platform TestNTrack, coworking market Stylework, amongst others, in the course of the 12 months.
Based in 2020 by Gaurav Sanghavi, Neeraj Tyagi, Bhawna Bhatnagar, Deo Saurabh and Vikas Aggarwal, We Founder Circle has backed over 70 homegrown startups to this point. It has a large community of 6,500 buyers throughout 40 international locations.
Final 12 months, We Founder Circle launched the Invstt app to simplify your entire angel investing course of — from discovery and analysis to funding transactions and portfolio administration.
In December, We Founder Circle’s GIFT Metropolis Fund raised $10 Mn and onboarded over 250 buyers. The fund focusses on providing startup buyers the power to speculate globally with out geographical restrictions.
100X.VC
In 2023, the early-stage VC agency 100X.VC closed 62 offers, backing startups such because the same-day supply service platform Pikndel, the social app for cricket fanatics Offside, and the analytics and infrastructure-as-a-service agency Roopya.
Based in 2019 by Sanjay Mehta, Ninad Karpe, Shashank Randev, Yagnesh Sanghrajka, and Vatsal Kanakiya, 100X.VC is a sector-agnostic fund that invests in early stage startups.
In October, 100X.VC introduced a brand new portfolio of 15 startups that it funded via Class 10. The Sanjay-Mehta-led agency invested $160K per startup, translating to a complete funding of about $2.3 Mn via iSAFE notes.
For its tenth cohort, 100X.VC shortlisted startups from a pool of greater than 2,000 functions protecting a large spectrum of industries, together with fintech, local weather tech, and B2B SaaS.
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ah! Ventures
Mumbai-based VC agency ah! Ventures backed 55 offers in 2023 and took part in funding rounds of startups comparable to Suniel Shetty-backed Klassroom Edutech, healthtech startup FlexifyMe, deeptech startup Twyn, and medtech startup Helo Well being, amongst others.
Based by Harshod Lahoti, Abhijeet Kumar, ah! Ventures is a curated sector-agnostic fundraising platform for early stage startups elevating funds as much as $10 Mn. The Mumbai-based agency has backed a number of early-stage startups throughout sectors, together with FlexifyMe, CarEasy, and Sugar Watchers.
It started investing in 2012-13 and has since participated in over 140 offers totalling about INR 286 Cr. Sometimes, it enters the early phases of funding with a cheque dimension of INR 3-3.5 Cr.
Final 12 months, Ah! Ventures onboarded three new enterprise companions to its staff. The brand new members embody Mukul Jain from Redbrick Capital Advisors, ProGrowth Ventures and Viraj Shah.
Mumbai Angels
Acquired by 360 ONE, an alternate funding agency, in January 2023, Mumbai Angels Community closed 55 offers in 2023. Throughout the 12 months, it has backed startups comparable to the private care startup Cleansta, the Delhi-based startup Proost Beer, the net studying platform ixamBee, and the chilly provide chain startup Celcius.
Based in 2006, Mumbai Angels Community invests in early stage startups in India. Over time, it has backed a mess of startups comparable to Adsparx, Adonmo, and BabyChakra, simply to depend a number of.
In January 2023, alternate funding agency 360 ONE, beforehand generally known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Administration, finalised the acquisition of a controlling stake in Mumbai Angels. Alongside this acquisition, Mumbai Angels additionally unveiled two new funds – an INR 1,000 Cr angel fund and an INR 300 Cr VC fund.
The angel fund provides flexibility to buyers in addition to startups, whereas the second fund will allow buyers to take part in each deal on Mumbai Angels. The angel fund treats every funding as a separate scheme and provides flexibility to buyers in addition to startups. Due to this fact, buyers can put money into a lot of offers whereas startups would have a lean cap desk.
Marwari Catalysts
Startup accelerator Marwari Catalysts participated in 50 offers in 2023. Over time, it has backed Jaipur Watch Firm, UR Turms, and Financial institution Sathi, amongst others.
Based in 2019, Marwari Catalysts is a swiftly rising startup accelerator. With a concentrate on untapped Tier II and Tier III cities, MCats uplifts economies via its startup acceleration programme, Thrive, which is designed to assist startups navigate and succeed within the dynamic enterprise panorama.
IAN Group
The Indian Angel Community (IAN) introduced 38 offers in 2023. It backed startups throughout rising sectors. Moreover, it led funding rounds for the spacetech startup Manastu Area and the cybersecurity startup SecurWeave.
IAN was launched in 2006 by Ruparel, Srivastava and Raman Roy to assist angel buyers come collectively to again early stage startups.
Final 12 months, IAN introduced the primary shut of its second enterprise capital fund at INR 355 Cr ($42.5 Mn). The fund has a goal corpus of INR 1,000 Cr ($119 Mn). Furthermore, IAN additionally appointed Sarika Saxena because the managing associate of IAN Alpha Fund, its enterprise capital fund.
IAN mentioned it will put money into early stage startups throughout sectors like cleantech, healthtech, fintech, deeptech, spacetech, shopper, agritech, cybersecurity, {hardware} and robotics from the second fund.
Notice: This rating is predicated on information consolidated from Inc42’s Investor Rating & Sentiment Surveys [2023, H1 2023 & Q3 2023], and offers recorded within the Inc42 database.
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