Agility Ventures, an angel investor network in the country, said it has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) for an angel fund with a total corpus of Rs 450 crore ($60 million). Agility Ventures is looking to deploy the entire corpus in the next three-four years.
The past two months have seen numerous angel investor networks applying to SEBI for AIFs (Alternative Investment Funds) to not just invest in the same ecosystem, but also get tax relief for angel investors while complying with regulations.
Agility Ventures’ network invests in startups or early-stage businesses in industries such as education, technology, healthcare, e-commerce, automobiles, electric vehicles, robotics, agri-tech and manufacturing, among others. With the AIFs, they are looking at deploying Rs 75 crore this year in over 50 start-ups, which will also include fintech, cyber security and crypto.
Dhianu Das, co-founder, Agility Ventures, says, "SEBI's approval to launch the fund is just the kind of start we were looking for in this New Year. After launching Fluid Ventures (a D2C focused SEBI-registered category-1 VC fund) last year, this is exactly the kind of fuel needed to roll out our plans for 2022. We are here to create more than just a ripple in the start-up investment space and the angel fund will help us reach that goal."
Seconding him, Prashant Narang, Co-Founder, Agility Ventures says: "The interesting thing about raising the kind of angel fund that has been approved by SEBI is that it is sector-agnostic and does not limit itself to co-investments. This model also simplifies the financing process without changing the core style of the angel network. In fact, it adds to the pre-existing angel investor’s style of financing, which usually entails bridge rounds to pre-series A rounds."
Agility Ventures is a global network spread across 25 chapters in India, Canada, the UAE, Australia and the UK as well. With a legal entity registered in America, they are also setting up a UAE-based team in February.
According to the company's website, its portfolio includes Power Gummies, Glamyo Health, Marj Technologies, Organic Brews, Gogo Bus, Devnagri, Zaroor, Tagz, Gobbly, Curio Ed, etc.