Angels are at work to help investors and startups come up and progress in the world’s biggest democracy and second biggest population. The Angels are the: Mumbai Angels Network and the venue is India, whose seven cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa and Pune feature over-350 members engaged in this effort.
Nandini Mansinghka, CEO/MD, Mumbai Angels Network, told media here today that the Network is organizing “BEYOND” – a melting pot of ideas and interactions between fast-growing ventures and investors – for the first time in Mumbai on February 27 this year.
Noting that about Rs 150 crores is involved in all sectors with cutting edge innovations on the MAN investment platform that focuses on investments in new ventures, she said the Angels Network stepped in to help when nobody could see the potential of the company. “There are about three to four companies each in the healthcare and the 300-million consumers sector where between Rs 15 to Rs 20 crores should happen when different investors come in. If you are an Indian wanting to go global, then this is the event,” she said.
Defining India as a Startup Nation, she said “Stalwarts, seasoned investors, budding entrepreneurs, new investors, VCs, corporate and customers will come together to meet their peers in not only preparing for and putting in place the ‘drivers’ for ‘wealth’ creation for the next decade, but also willing to share what has worked or not for them so far,” she said while describing “BEYOND” as a multi-track event with three parallel tracks happening simultaneously.
“The first track has panel discussions with topmost investors, thinkers and wealth creators by focusing on top-of-mind subjects like What’s going to power the next Trillion Dollar Economy?”, How to build the next Unicorn? and Whether Scalability is the Mantra of Sustainability. The second track has Master Classes on topics like ‘Navigating the Legal Labyrinth,’ ‘Alternative Fund Raise Avenues,’ and ‘Growing the Startup across Borders.’ ‘The third track features promising startups pitching to investors and this track will only be available to Investors who have bought the Investors’ pass.”
The MA Network began in 2006 to build a strong investment network that showcases 60-70 highly-curated investment opportunities for its member base, which is chosen from a funnel of 4500-5000 companies that it reviews annually. The network now has 130-plus strong portfolio with 30-plus exits, several of whom were at multiples comparable with global benchmarks in new venture investing.
Describing BEYOND as a big step forward to make the ecosystem think and act to identify and support the wealth engines of the next decade, Ameve Sharma, Chairman, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Western India, said ICC has been on the forefront of multitude of industry-specific issues and it was only natural that the exponentially-mushrooming startup ecosystem gets industry status and takes its rightful space as the emerging contributors to the national economy.
“BEYOND is a 360 degrees vision for startups to learn about investing, as no company in India is focusing on growing the startups space and this had prompted Mumbai Angels Network to start working in this direction,” he said.
