India’s start-up ecosystem is thriving by the day. New and path-breaking start-ups founded under the guidance of budding and passionate young leaders are entering the ecosystem and disrupting their respective sectors. The primary factor behind this surge in start-ups is the support of angel investors and successful entrepreneurs, who offer not only monetary assistance but also strategic guidance, leading them to later become successful brands and unicorns. It is due to their strong commitment to nurturing a new generation of entrepreneurs that India has become a start-up hub on a global scale
As we enter the New Year, we can expect India’s leading investors to revamp their portfolios, especially with the relations to start-ups, with renewed enthusiasm to build unicorns of tomorrow. Though the start-up investment landscape is lucrative enough to attract existing as well as new investors, a few select of India’s leading corporate leaders continue to reign the space in 2024 as well given their investment background and expertise. Here are top 6 investors who are expected to revamp their start-up investments and support budding entrepreneurs.
Akshay Munjal
Akshay Munjal, Founder and CEO of Hero Vired, a leading edtech platform for professionals, has redefined the skill development segment for working professionals with his futuristic vision. Given his passion of empowering entrepreneurs, he regularly invests in promising start-ups.
Till today, Munjal has invested in 30 start-ups. His portfolio includes Blue Tokai, Atomberg, BharatPe, Rusk Media, BlueSmart, Playshifu, Huddle, Burger Singh, and Wingreens.
Notably, Akshay Munjal is also gearing up for mergers and acquisitions to expand its business at a time when most edtech companies are reeling under pressure amid a slowdown in venture capital funding. He is looking at assets in the early stages of development with a clear indication of disruptive potential. Akshay is looking to acquire at least one edtech company each in three segments: assets which either have the capability of selling internationally to get a head start, have a strong B2B2I (business-to-business-to-individual) business in India, or offers services that Hero Vired does not have and can become a plug and play for the brand.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Ace investor Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm, has recently launched the VSS Investment Fund with a corpus of Rs 30 crore. He aims to invest in new-age tech start-ups functioning in the domain of AI, EVs, and others, and facilitate the country’s evolution into a hub of AI-driven innovations.
Sharma owns a big portfolio with several stat-ups, including Ola Electric, Josh Talks, Mesa School, UNNATI, KAWA Space, Praan, GOQii, KWH Bikes, Daalchini, and Treebo Hotels. With his VSS Fund, he is sure to explore opportunities to invest in promising businesses.
Rohit Bansal
Rohit Bansal, co-founder of Snapdeal, has played a pivotal role in the success of over 52 startups. Renowned as the co-founder of one of India’s early unicorns in 2010, Bansal has made substantial personal investments, primarily facilitated through his investment firm, Titan Capital.
Established in 2015 alongside Kunal Bahl, co-founder of Snapdeal, Titan Capital operates as a seed-stage investment firm. Titan Capital has significantly contributed to the success of a diverse portfolio, exceeding 200 firms, which includes notable unicorns like Razorpay. Rohit invests actively through his investment arm, Titan Capital, which assesses more than 4000 proposals every year. He strongly believes in the strength of the Indian economy and its huge consumer base.
His portfolio includes companies like Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth, and Pepper. It is expected that Titan Capital will be screening more business proposals this year to make Rohit’s portfolio more diverse. Last year, he invested in 17 start-ups.
Ghazal Alagh
She is a successful business leader, wife, mother, and keen investor. After building a successful company, Shark Tank India judge and co-founder of Mamaearth, Ghazal Alagh has now focused on extending helping hands to aspiring entrepreneurs. In the last few years, she has invested in many start-ups, including Humpy Farms, unScript AI, BlissClub, and Uvi Health. With her husband Varun Alagh, she has also backed handcrafted brass and copper home decor brand P-TAL, and window and door systems brand GreenFortune.
She has been quite active in the investment landscape. Considering this and her interest in new businesses, we can expect she might consider investing in many start-ups in 2024.
Kunal Shah
Cred Founder Kunal Shah is among the most active angel investors in the Indian start-up ecosystem. He invested in 67 start-ups in 2022 and 23 start-ups in 2023. Till today, he has invested in around 80 fintechs, typically with an average investment of $50,000 per start-up.
Kunal does not have any mutual funds or stocks, he only invest in start-ups as a way of paying it forward and helping the system move forward. His investments have included early backing for fintech unicorn Razorpay, as well as other companies like M2P Fintech, Jupiter, and Coinswitch.
Taking note of his inclination towards start-ups, it is expected that he will be looking for and supporting start-ups in the 2024 as well. He believes in supporting risk-takers that offers opportunities for budding entrepreneurs to approach him with some good business plans.
Vineeta Singh
Shark Tank India judge and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, Vineeta Singh is a serial entrepreneur and an active angel investor. This woman has set up a great example for young women entrepreneurs. She has not only achieved success for herself but also acts as an inspiring force for so many budding entrepreneurs. She is an entrepreneur, wife, mother, and keen investor. She believes in the power of ideas and has funded many startups like CosIQ, Skippi Ice Pops, Booz, Josh Talks, JhaJi Store, Humpy Farms, Kabaddi Adda, Snitch, and others. Since her appearance on the TV Show, she has been getting numerous proposals every year from start-ups to invest.
She maintains a good portfolio of start-ups that include Considering the constant growth of the start-up ecosystem in the country, she may consider investing in good proposals in the New Year.
Source: PR Agency
