Mumbai Angels Aims to Build a Portfolio of 500 Companies The company has so far funded 180 innovative startups across industries and deal sizes
By S Shanthi
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Mumbai Angels is a sector agnostic, process-driven, algorithm-based early-stage investment platform. The company is looking to minimize personal bias and operate at scale through the algorithm by assigning a probability to possible factors that the partners have seen play out as either success enhancing or inhibitors.
"Our thesis built over the experience of 15+ years is that at the stage at which we are investing, there are too many variables that could either make or break a company. Any investor which is playing at this level solely based on human judgment and understanding is adding the human bias risk to an already risky asset class," said Nandini Mansinghka, co-founder and CEO, Mumbai Angels Network.
The investors on their part focus on building a diversified portfolio almost using an index approach, double up on the companies that perform and continue to hold their investments as long as they can. "When managed with patience and a portfolio approach, this asset class has the potential to offer IRR of anywhere upwards of 25 per cent," she said.
She also added that the expertise they are building is not a deal identification but deal flow, deal selection based on technology, faster closing of deals and monitoring portfolios at scale.
The company has so far funded 180 innovative startups across industries and deal sizes. Some of its most notable investments included Big Bang Boom Solutions (Defence Tech), Chargezone (EV), Svami (Consumer), Blu Smart Mobility (Mobility / EV), Dhruva Space(Space Tech), Gegadyne (Battery Tech), Vahdam Teas (D2C Brands), Purplle (Online Beauty Marketplace), and several others.
Talking about future plans, Mansinghka said, "In the short term, Mumbai Angels Network plans to launch two funds in the market – an angel fund and a sidecar fund that will invest alongside the platform in all deals and next rounds."
Over the next 3-5 years, the platform aims to build a portfolio of 500 companies, becoming the platform of choice for founders, deal makers, micro VCs and investors. "We see the future growth coming from several such funds that we launch: debt, revenue-based finance, distressed assets etc, as the market matures and regulations become more favorable," she added.
