Angel Of Growth

Meet Sandeep Bardia, the chairman of JITO Angel Network Investment Committee, who has embarked upon a two-pronged mission to nurture Jain and Marwari start-ups and also popularise them among traditional Jain and Marwari businessmen as the next big investment opportunity.

- Joseph Rozario

THE JAINS AND MARWARIS HAVE BEEN TWO of India's most successful business communities and continue to be, with hundreds of ambitious youngsters making their foray into the world of enterprise every year. Considering their predilection for business, they are eager to make their mark in the world of enterprise, through either established family businesses or start-ups which seem to be the latest buzz in investor circles, given increasing instances of start-ups going on to become bigtime businesses. Add to these the fact that as successful entrepreneurs, Jains and Marwaris hold tremendous investment potential, and the rising number of angel investors makes sense. Among them is Sandeep Bardia, the chairman of JITO Angel Network Investment Committee, an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, who has earlier worked on Wall Street as a fund manager, before moving back to India in 2005.

A new asset class

Bardia has his roots in Sardarshahar, Rajasthan and is currently based in New Delhi. Asked about JITO Angel Network and its functions, he says, “JITO Angel Network is one of the largest and fastest growing angel investment networks in the country that aims to provide a new asset class to traditional Marwari Jain investors: start-ups. It invests in start-ups across all sectors and stages.” Bardia’s responsibilities, as the chairman of JITO Angel Network Investment Committee, include overseeing all investing activity and also mentoring start-ups.

For those uninitiated, angel investors (or angel funders) are affluent individuals who help newly developing businesses with capital, usually in exchange for ownership equity in the company or convertible debt. Angel investors may operate individually, or function as networks/groups to share research, pool funds and even provide advice and means to jump-start the performance of incubatees/startups. JITO Angel Network falls in the latter category.