Indian Angel Network concludes 18 term sheets in 2013

The Indian Angel Network (IAN), one of India's leading angel investor networks, which helps budding entrepreneurs convert their ideas into businesses, concluded 2013 on a high note with 18 term sheets. On average, this translates into one every three weeks.

Started in 2006, IAN is India's first and Asia's largest business angel group with over 250 successful entrepreneurs and CEOs across 10 countries. IAN is a seed-cum-early-stage platform with a portfolio of more than 100 companies.

According to a press release issued by IAN, sectors which attracted investors in 2013 include manufacturing, ecommerce, semiconductor, medical devices, social media, education, clean tech, and mobile/telecom. IAN investee companies have given investors returns ranging from three to 22 times the invested capital and in some cases the investors are still holding equity, the release said.

Investee companies have attracted next-round VC monies - exceptional in the prevailing environment, it added.

During the year IAN launched IAN Impact to encourage social entrepreneurs. This has facilitated several investments, including Goonj and Gocoop. This is the first time that the group's members have invested in socially impactful ventures, said the release.

The model of the IAN incubator is also on a growth path, with a portfolio of 50 companies and over 30 IAN mentors as also several domain and functional experts outside of the network helping these companies. The incubator is now seeing five to seven companies coming in for incubation every month, seeking to quickly build high-growth, investible companies.

The incubator has already thrown up companies which have attracted equity investment within six to nine months of incubation, the release said.

In 2013, IAN started the London Chapter with the support of the UK Government. It also took part in the "Startup Dosti" initiative, bringing entrepreneurs from India and Pakistan on a business plan competition platform, to be mentored and perhaps funded by both Indian and Pakistani investors.

IAN's partnership with Nasscom's 10K Startups programme helped convert job-seekers to job-creators, and brought mentors and investors closer to the startups, the release said.