2021 Has Been a Phenomenal Year: ah! Ventures' Amit Kumar The fund evaluates close to 500 business plans a month, shortlists 4 to 5 through its stringent 4 level curation process for its investors to review and take investment decisions.

Investors began investing through ah! Ventures in 2012-13. The angel investment platform is sector-agnostic with more than 3000 investors which include angels, VC Firms, family offices and corporate ventures. Additionally, ah! Ventures also has two other platforms, First Gear for very early-stage companies and High Tables for growth-stage companies wishing to raise more than $ 1 Mn.

Apart from members on the platform, ah! Ventures and their partners are also active investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. The fund evaluates close to 500 business plans a month, shortlists 4 to 5 through its stringent 4 level curation process for its investors to review and take investment decisions. The team strives to select companies that should be able to provide handsome returns to investors over 4 to 5 years. Since its inception, a total of 94 investments across 74 startups have happened through the three platforms.

"2021 has been a phenomenal year so far. Be it angel or institutional investment, a lot of records have been broken and the year is not yet over. We feel this enthusiasm and opportunity is here to stay for the medium and long term," said Amit Kumar, senior partner, ah! Ventures.

The First Gear platform which is for very early-stage companies, that is companies that are product ready but may/may not have hit the market, offers not only a chance to get funded, it also provides mentoring by the ah! Ventures core team in the areas of strategy, technology, branding and marketing, finance and HR. The startups tend to benefit as the mentors have regular and periodic calls and engagements with the founders to help them make business decisions and tackle on-ground problems.