Indian Angel Network is a national business angel group. Founded in 2006, it has over 225 members and has funded over 47 start-ups across multiple sectors including IT, Mobile, Healthcare and Education, across India and overseas.

An entrepreneur's passion towards his product and the uniqueness of the business idea is what drives investments for any startup. Some of the sectors which have picked up recently are manufacturing, mobile, internet and socially relevant start-ups. In the past year we have invested in over 20 startups and the quality of entrepreneurs has been improving consistently, which makes the ventures investible propositions, especially for early stage investing.

Innovations and Investments
Mobile and internet are always exciting sectors from the investment perspective as they provide for fast scale up models in a capital efficient way. But even manufacturing has emerged as a favorite for the investors as it offers tremendous growth for innovation, leveraging some of the traditional domain expertise of the country. We have invested in Mukunda Foods, also known by its product's name Dosamatics; a table top 'Dosa' making machine. This innovation will bring 'Dosas' to consumers without the need for a chef.

There are several new opportunities coming up as the world is evolving. The prevalence of applications like Instagram and the consequent death of brands like Kodak are testament to this evolution. Similarly, as innovation gets adopted as products or services, new needs and innovative ideas are bred and provide new opportunities. Also, India is starting to see IP focused ventures; government and private labs are opening up their declassified IPs. These IPs provide perfect opportunities for innovative ventures. Here is an example: the magic foods available in IndiGo flights such as 8 minutes Upma, Biryani and so on is an innovative productization of an IP and a brilliant opportunity for business.

Advice to Startups