Indian Angel Network joins Inventus Capital Partners to invest in two US-based startups

NEW DELHI: The Indian Angel Network, the country’s oldest and largest angel investor group, has partnered with Kanwal Rekhi-led Inventus Capital Partners, to invest in two US-based startups, a development that highlights the homegrown angel network’s growth ambitions outside India’s borders.

The investment entities have pumped in undisclosed amounts in data driven insurance startup Assured Risk Cover (ARC) and ActivityHero, a one-stop shop to find and book kids’ after-school activities and summer camps.

Both startups, however, are US-based ventures, catering to the US markets, a departure from IAN’s strategy of backing ventures, which are either based in India, or have a focus on the Indian market.
“We’re getting our feet wet with these two transactions. The reasoning behind these two deals is to diversify and get an exposure to different paradigms as investors,” said Saurabh Srivastava, co-founder of IAN.

ARC is focused on hurricane coverage and operates in a similar space to Monsanto-owned disaster risk insurance company, Climate Corp. The startup uses data driven analytics, intellectual property-rich algorithms and open source technologies, leading to efficiencies in pricing, signups, tracking and pay-outs.

Separately, ActivityHero enables users to register their children in multiple programmes with one common app, and receives a 15% marketing fee for bookings in the marketplace.

Inventus Capital, which counts ventures such as insurance comparison firm PolicyBazaar, online car rental service Savaari and internet marketing venture Vizury, among its portfolio in India, is the lead investor on the transactions.

According to Srivastava, IAN’s decision to partner with Inventus, one of the more active seed-stage investment firms in India, was also to take advantage of the latter’s proximity and connect with the startup ecosystem in the Silicon Valley.

“Inventus is in the market, and we’re not. We have a long association with them, and this is a good way of looking at different startups and ideas that are emerging,” said Srivastava.

IAN, which has over 350 members globally, counts prominent angel investors such as Hero Cycles managing director Sunil Munjal, HCL cofounder Ajai Chowdhry and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, cofounder and chief executive of publicly-listed internet company Info Edge, in its network.

The angel network, which has been the early backers of startups such as Stayzilla, Druva and Sapience, has made over 65 investments till date.

This, however, is the not IAN’s first foray outside the country. In 2013, ET was the first to report that the angel network had decided to scout for investment opportunities in the United Kingdom and Singapore, in the process becoming the world's first angel investor group to establish operations outside of its home country.

The partnership between IAN and Inventus Capital comes at a time, when early-stage investments in the US by top venture capital firms, a list that includes, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Battery Ventures, has seen a drop, diametrically opposite to the seed and Series A funding activity in India, which has jumped up, and hit record highs.

Early-stage activity among smart money VCs (top VC firms) has largely trended down in the US, over the past 6 quarters, falling to 67 deals in Q3’15, the lowest quarterly tally since Q4’10, which saw 64 deals, according to a research note by CB Insights.

In sharp contrast, India, in 2015 till date, has seen 252 early-stage deals, valued at almost $590 million, a 125% increase in deal value, compared with 2014, according to data collated by investment tracking firm Venture Intelligence.