ALL-WEATHER ANGELS

UNDETERRED BY THE RECENT FUNDING WINTER, THE INDIAN ANGEL NETWORK LAUNCHED TWO FUNDS WORTH ₹1,375 CRORE. IT IS NOW LOOKING TO MAKE SMART PROFITS FROM SOME EXITS, AND LAUNCH TWO MORE FUNDS

- SUDESHNA MITRA

WHEN IT LAUNCHED in 2017, Zypp Electric wanted to be an app-based e-bike rental service. But when the world got locked down in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, Zypp changed tack and became an EV-asa-service for last-mile delivery. Anyone in the last-mile delivery business, from Zomato to Uber and Swiggy, can get a Zypp e-scooter service along with Zypp's trained drivers.

Indian Angel Network, which had funded Zypp as it does scores of such start-ups, watched on without interfering when Zypp changed tack. That's one of the things IAN does well: allowing its start-ups leeway.

Now, buoyed by its successes, IAN has set a goal of investing ₹5,000 crore in 500-odd start-ups within the next six years. That's a tall target for IAN, which has deployed ₹1,000 crore since it was founded in 2006 by Padmaja Ruparel, Saurabh Srivastava, and Raman Roy. But if it succeeds, IAN will have created half a million jobs by 2030 by investing in early-stage start-ups.

"Angel investment in India is as old as us," says Ruparel, who became an "angel" after dabbling in varied professions and quitting her family's real estate business.

Ruparel's optimism has not left her even though the industry was becalmed in 2020 by lockdowns. But after hitting an all-time low, funding peaked in 2021. Then came a funding winter in the second half of 2022, as investors took their time (sometimes five or six months against a couple earlier) to seal a deal. Many had backed start-ups without a thought in 2021, but when the ventures failed to fight the lockdowns, the investors stepped back.