More Than Just An Angel

Early stage individual investors are cutting cheques beyond seed funding and moving onto late-stage deals.

- V. KESHAVDEV

WHAT HAPPENS when new-age investing meets age-old Ayurveda? You create a new formula for success. Ameve Sharma has been able to do just that with Kapiva. The third-generation scion of one of the country’s oldest business houses, the Baidyanath family, is running an over ₹100-crore business in less than five years. “We found the need for a lifestyle brand, rather than the traditional Ayurveda approach of Baidyanath that is built more on curing ailments,” says Sharma.

The 34-year-old has been able to create a niche for himself thanks to the rise of angel investors. In 2018, Kapiva managed to raise seed funding from former Infosys chief financial officer T.V. Mohandas Pai, the Gilani family of Gits Food and former Reliance MF chief investment officer Madhusudhan Kela. “I was very clear that I did not want to run a typical business but a more professional one. Getting outside investors brings in a lot of accountability and governance, I was very keen on that right from day one,” explains Sharma, whose start-up has raised over $16 million in three rounds of funding thus far.

Angels And Start-ups

The likes of Ameve have been able to give wings to their dreams, thanks to the proliferation of angel investors. From just a handful of individual investors more than a decade back, India is now home to a 26,500-plus bustling angel investing community, comprising successful entrepreneurs and private investors. A long-term game, angel investing is now becoming mainstream in India — partly owing to the successful listing of startups in the capital market, but largely on account of a maturing ecosystem.