StartupCentral

In a step towards broadening its investment strategy, Indian Angel Network (IAN) will now look at slightly smaller deal ticket sizes to cater to startups in the mobile and Internet segments. It will invest a little over $150,000 in two dozen such startups, said a press release. The angel network has so far restricted itself to ticket sizes of between $400,000 and $600,000, going up to $1 million in some cases.

The climbdown in deal ticket sizes appears to be a reaction to the current frenzy in India around Internet startups, particularly in the ecommerce segment. Valuations have been moving north since last year and venture capitalists are under pressure to find deals earlier on in the game and ensure that entry valuations remain reasonable.

IAN is currently scouting entrepreneurial ventures that require $150,000 to test out their ideas. Entrepreneurs can send their business plans to info (at) indiaangelnetwork (dot) com. Shortlisted applicants will have an opportunity to pitch their plans to IAN members in Delhi next month. Some of the prominent angel investors within the IAN network include Raman Roy, Jerry Rao, Pramod Bhasin and institutions such as Intel, IBM and Sidbi. The network has invested in 25-odd companies so far.

When Kallol Borah wrote in last week to introduce his latest venture, HeadStart Ventures, I was a bit confused. Borah also happens to be a co-founder of the HeadStart Network Foundation, a not-for-profit entity which hosts the popular startup showcase event HeadStart. The two, it turns out, are not related and there is some acrimony brewing on that front. But Borah’s new venture, whose primary activity will be to seed startups from a proposed Rs 25 crore angel fund, is inspired (quite literally) by his experiences with the other HeadStart (where he continues as director). Taking lessons from his past experiences, he aims to plug some of the “gaps in the startup and innovation ecosystem” with his angel fund.

Though it will compete with organized angel investor networks such as Mumbai Angels and Indian Angel Network, HeadStart Ventures’ functioning style will be a cross between an incubator and a venture capital firm. Individuals who want to invest in the fund will be required to make a minimum commitment of Rs 50 lakh. Each individual investor will become a limited partner in the fund. While Rs 25 crore is the target corpus for now, the founders have not set a hard cap yet on the final fund size. It will have an investment committee which will vet and close deals. This will be supported by an operations team which will be involved in activities such as workshops and managing mentors and industry partnerships. Borah and his co-founders will man the operations team and probably also be on the investment committee, though he says, “I think we will end up having a different set of people on the committee.” Read the full story