"Our aim is to democratise the entrepreneurial ecosystem"

Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts speaks to BW Businessworld about the angelinvestment landscape in India, focussing on startups’ contribution in the national economy, and more

- By Resham Suhail

WEALTHY STOCK MARKET leaders, second-time founders, bankers and even cash-rich salaried employees are joining the club of angel investors. This is strong enough evidence that the startup ecosystem of India has established itself as a potential alternative for investment alongside traditional options such as FDs and mutual funds. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts++ along with three other Co-founders Anil Jain, Anuj Golecha and Gaurav Jain leads Venture Catalysts++. Venture Catalysts is an early-to-growth stage fund that includes five funds ranging from early-stage to sectorfocused.

The company first launched its 150 million accelerator fund in 2020 and it has launched four more including Venture Catalysts Angel Fund, a 200 million fintech-focused fund called Beams, Proptech fund Spyre and a 200 million growth stage sector agnostic fund Elevs. The group has a combined portfolio of over 300 startups whose consolidated valuation is pegged at around 10 billion thus making it the country’s largest early-to-growth stage investing platform.