Angel investments in India: trends, prospects and issues

Abstract

The academic note which forms the first part of this article is intended to serve as a background for the round table on 揂ngel investments in India: Trends, Prospects and Issues. The note begins with a description of the investment activity of individual angels and angel networks, presents an illustration of how angel networks differ from individual or lone wolf angels in terms of the way they are organised and the way they conduct their investment activity, and then provides some top level data on angel investment trends in India over the past fifteen years. IT notes that the number of enterprises funded by angel investors has been growing in India over the past fifteen years, and sharply so in the three years up to 2016, that angel networks have been growing in importance, and that their activity is reaching levels that should catch the attention of policy planners. IT thus sets a backdrop, based on academic and practitioner literature, for a discussion on the current state of the angel investment industry in India.