30 Indian startup investors who were most active in 2022
Lalita Singh 
The year 2022 ended up being the year of market correction for the Indian startup ecosystem as a result of the macroeconomic headwinds. A funding winter started to develop as a result of investors becoming wary due to the global economic slowdown and high inflation. In 2022, Indian startups raised $25 billion, down from $42 billion in 2021.
Nevertheless, despite the funding crisis, job losses, and shutdowns in the startup ecosystem, the nation produced 21 unicorns in 2022, surpassing the milestone of 100 unicorns.
Despite the decrease in funding, investors appeared optimistic about the Indian startup ecosystem as 126 funds, including debt funds, corporate VC funds, micro funds, and venture capital funds, were announced and launched in 2018 compared to 61 funds in 2021. Compared to $6 billion the year before, these funds have collectively raised over $18 billion to invest in Indian startups, and they appear to be waiting for the right moment to use this money.
We present to you a list of the Indian startup ecosystem's most active investors for 2022.
Meet 2022's Most Active Startup Investors
LetsVenture is a startup investment marketplace founded in 2013 by Shanti Mohan and Sanjay Jha that enables investors to find and invest in startups via its proprietary tech platform.
In 2022, LetsVenture closed 360 transactions. Participating in the Series A funding round of the local quick service restaurant chain Burger Singh was one of its notable investments during the year. Additionally, it supported the e-commerce rollup startup Evenflow and the feminine hygiene startup Sanfe.
LetsVenture and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology joined forces in 2022 to invest in early-stage startups through the SAMRIDH startup accelerator program of the government.
Naval Ravikant founded AngelList in 2009, which enables accredited backers and investors with as little as $1,000 to contribute together through investment syndicates. In 2019, it launched an angel and venture fund with a focus on India.
In 2022, AngelList India took part in 285 financing transactions. Throughout the year, it supported a number of startups including coliving marketplace Crib, content sharing startup SuperShare, and B2B manufacturing and supply chain enablement startup Magma.
In 2022, the venture capital (VC) company with US headquarters unveiled a $2 billion early-stage venture and growth fund for India. In June 2022, the fund's closure was declared.
Sequoia Capital invested in 86 startups in India in 2022, including Scaler Academy, the B2B SaaS platform CleverTap, and the SaaS unicorn Chargebee.
The year 2022 was challenging for the venture capital firm's India division because several of its portfolio companies, including BharatPe, Zilingo, and Trell, were involved in scandals that called into question the corporate governance of the firms' businesses. After that, Sequoia India published a blog post outlining its perspective on corporate governance issues and "a set of proactive steps" to address misconduct.
Better Capital was established in 2018 and is led by Silicon Valley businessman Vaibhav Domkundwar. It is supported by founders, operators, and investors from all over the world. Among its backers are former and present executives from Meta, Google, Uber, LinkedIn, Tiger Global, TPG, and the World Bank.
In the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022, Better Capital took part in 75 funding transactions, including those for the fintech startups Gullak and M2P Fintech as well as the creator-owned marketplace startup HYPD.
We Founder Circle, which was established in 2020 by Gaurav Sanghavi, Neeraj Tyagi, Bhawna Bhatnagar, Deo Saurabh, and Vikas Aggarwal, has so far supported more than 70 domestic startups. It has a vast network of 6,500 investors in 40 different nations.
The investment company introduced two angel funds in December 2022: the $24 million "Invstt Trust" angel fund and the $30 million international "We Founder Circle Global Angels Fund."
It took part in 71 startup funding transactions in 2022. ParkMate, a platform for smart parking solutions, and Uma Robotics both received seed funding from it. Additionally, it made an investment in the foodtech startup Anveshan.
The venture debt company, which Ishpreet Gandhi founded in 2019, is based in Delhi and invests in startups operating in a variety of industries, including fintech, agritech, B2B commerce, healthtech, B2B SaaS, mobility, and energy solutions.
Stride Ventures closed its second fund, Stride Ventures India Fund II, in August 2022 with a $200 million corpus to write checks between $4 and $5 million to 60 to 70 startups over a four-year period.
In 2022, it took part in 55 funding rounds, including those for the EV battery swapping network Battery Smart, BluSmart, and agritech startup WayCool.
ah! Ventures is a curated, industry-neutral platform for early-stage startups to raise up to $10 million in funding. The Mumbai-based company has so far supported a number of early-stage startups in various industries.
It introduced an alternative investment fund (AIF) in June 2022 with a corpus of about $14 million. (INR 100 Cr). Additionally, the fund offers a green shoe option worth 50 Cr. The first angel fund will primarily target startups in the B2B SaaS, enterprisetech, healthcare, fintech, education, and D2C sectors.
ah! In 2022, ventures took part in 54 startup funding deals, including those for Immersive Vision, Klassroom, and We360.ai.
A joint venture between Seviora (Temasek) and United Overseas Bank is known as InnoVen Capital Pte Ltd. Consumer internet, B2B commerce, enterprise software, fintech, healthtech, and logistics are some of the areas on which it primarily focuses.
InnoVen lends money to new businesses in China, India, and Southeast Asia. It took part in 52 transactions in 2022 and made investments in well-known startups like MediBuddy, Rebel Foods, and Scripbox.
The venture capital firm from Silicon Valley first ventured into India in 2005. With the launch of the $10 million Accel India Venture Capital Fund in 2008, it started its journey in India. For Accel India VII, its seventh fund, $650 million was raised in 2022. The fund will make investments in Southeast Asian and Indian early-stage startups.
The VC firm prefers to invest in a company as the initial investor. According to earlier claims made by the company, it is the first institutional investor in over 85% of its investments in India and Southeast Asia, with 95% of those investments occurring in seed or Series A rounds.
The VC firm took part in 48 transactions in 2022. Startups like Fashinza, Detect Technologies, and Scripbox were among those it invested in.
Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) is an early-stage angel investment company that was established in 2019. More than 6,400 CXOs, HNIs, and professionals participate in it to make startup investments.
In order to fund pre-Series A to Series B startups in the commerce, consumer tech, social/content creator, B2B SaaS, and enterprisetech sectors, IPV launched the $50 Mn CAT II AIF Physis Capital in 2022.
In 2022, it made 48 investments in the Indian startup ecosystem, including ones in the OTT platform STAGE, the fintech startup MoneyPlanned, and the beverage company Bored Beverages.
Mehta Ventures, an angel investment firm run by angel investor Sanjay Mehta, launched cohort-based investment model 100X.VC in 2019. 100X.VC announced in April 2022 that it would invest INR 125 Cr (more than $16.5 Mn) over the course of a year in 100 early-stage startups.
It invested in 45 startups in 2022, including edtech startup Super Scholar and B2B SaaS startup ElevateHQ.
Tiger Global, a US hedge fund, has long been optimistic about Indian startups. It has made investments in a number of well-known tech startups and has so far helped the nation produce close to 40 unicorns.
Tiger Global's management stated that its PIP Fund 16 would invest "primarily in enterprise themes and in India" and "in a lower-valuation environment" in October 2022. It was stated that one of Tiger Global's main areas of focus is investment in India. It took part in 44 deals in the startup ecosystem in 2022, maintaining its momentum in the Indian private market. It made investments in startups like Open, CRED, and CleverTap. Neobank Open distinguished itself by becoming India's 100th unicorn.
Trifecta Capital, established in 2014 by Rahul Khanna and Nilesh Kothari, offers specialised financing options for companies in a range of industries, including B2B, consumer services, consumer brands, e-commerce, mobility, edtech, agritech, fintech, and healthcare.
For The Trifecta Leaders Fund - I, its first ever equity fund, the venture debt investor raised INR 1,500 Cr ($200 Mn) in early 2022.
It closed 42 investment deals last year, supporting well-known startups like Country Delight, Rebel Foods, and Scripbox.
FAAD invests in early-stage startups across industries and was founded in 2015 by Karan Verma and Dr. Dinesh Singh. The FAAD's Angel Network debuted in 2019. WCube, Cleardekho, Huviair, Hesa, Blu Smart, Battery Smart, and Beyond Snacks are a few of the companies in its portfolio.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) granted it permission last month to launch a $300 million Category 1 AIF.
While taking part in 36 investment transactions in 2022, including investments in Terra Food Co., Quizy, and D2C eyewear startup ClearDekho.
3one4 Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests typically between $500k and $4 Mn in early-stage startups. It was founded in 2015 by brothers Pranav Pai and Siddarth Pai.
It primarily focuses on startups in the fields of actionable intelligence services powered by AI/ML, enterprise automation, ambient intelligence technologies, consumer goods, fintech, media, and multilingual content.
It took part in over 35 funding transactions last year, including those for neobank Open, Kuku FM, and the unicorn in HR tech, Darwinbox.
Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath founded Blume Ventures in 2010, which makes investments in startups operating in a variety of industries, including edtech, fintech, health, business, consumer internet, AI, SaaS, and enterprise software.
Blume Ventures declared the final closure of its $250 million fund in December 2022, surpassing its intended target corpus of $200 million.
It supported 31 startups in 2022, including Pixxel, Lambdatest, and Jai Kishan, a platform for browser testing.
Through Artha India Ventures, a division of the Artha Group of Companies, investments are made. Artha India Ventures is an early-stage, industry-neutral firm that has been funding startups since early 2012. It is a division of Ashok Kumar Damani and Ramesh M. Damani's family office.
30 investment transactions were completed by Artha Group in 2022, including those with Daalchini, Fantasy Trading League, and Mumbai-based HobSpace, a chess academy.
In 2016, SucSEED Ventures began as an angel investor network. The market regulator SEBI granted SucSEED Indovation Fund a licence to operate as an angel fund in the Category 1 AIF in 2020, when it completed the first close of its INR 100 Cr fund.
It took part in 30 transactions in 2022 and provided financial support to businesses like cloud gaming platform The Gaming Project, SpeEdlabs, and EduGorilla.
Over 140 individuals, businesses, and institutions make up the India-based angel investment group known as The Chennai Angels. It makes investments in early-stage startups, with a particular emphasis on industries like agritech and sustainability, electric vehicles, deep tech, health tech, fintech, D2C, and Web3.
In 2022, it took part in 30 funding transactions, investing in the cloud kitchen startup Terra Food Co., the pet care startup Goofy Tails, and the fintech startup Freed.
The venture capital firm based in Gurugram invests in startups in consumer brands, consumer technology, enterprise, SaaS, financial services, and logistics. Among the startups in its portfolio are Chaayos, Country Delight, and The Souled Store.
In 2022, it took part in 28 venture capital transactions, including those for Chaayos, Polygon, and SUGAR.
In order to support early-stage startups in a variety of industries, including electric vehicles, mobility, augmented reality, VR, AI and ML, fintech, and retail, Venture Catalysts established a $43.41 million fund called 9Unicorns in 2019.
In May 2022, the startup accelerator announced the fifth closure of its initial $100 Mn fund.
In 2022, it took part in 27 investment transactions, supporting businesses such as Power Gummies, Evenflow, and MarketWolf.
A multinational venture capital firm called BEENEXT makes investments in early-stage technology startups in the US, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. The venture capital firm announced that more than 50% of the $110 million Emerging Asia Fund would be invested in Indian startups when it closed in 2020.
BEENEXT took part in 27 funding transactions in 2022. In 2022, it made some notable investments in MemeChat, PazCare, and ShopSe.
Anicut Capital, which was established in 2016 by Ashvin Chadha and IAS Balamurugan, currently oversees two debt funds, Grand Anicut Fund I and Grand Anicut Fund II in addition to Anicut Opportunities Fund I, an equity-based angel fund.
After raising INR 110 Cr., Anicut Capital announced the first closure of its sector-neutral Anicut Opportunities Fund I in June 2022. In 2022, it took part in 26 transactions, investing in companies like MasterChow, Snapmint, and The Ayurveda Experience.
The Jain International Trade Organization's subsidiary, JITO Angel Network, is based in Mumbai and was established in 2017. HomeCapital, Siply, Blusmart, Vidyakul, S3V Vascular Technologies, Galaxy Card, and Finance Peer are a few of the companies in its portfolio.
JITO Angel Network took part in 25 transactions in 2022 and supported businesses like Renkube, Super Scholar, and TABLT Pharmacy.
As a franchisee of Matrix Partners, a company based in the US, Matrix Partners India was established in 2006. Over the years, Matrix Partners India has made significant investments in well-known startups like Ola, VerSe, Stanza Living, and Razorpay.
It raised $450 million fund in 2022 to invest in South Asian markets, including India. It took part in 24 funding transactions throughout the year, investing in startups like Oxyzo, Rocketlane, and MoEngage.
Info Edge And InfoEdge Ventures
A venture capital company called Info Edge Ventures makes investments in tech-enabled, early-stage start-ups and is supported by Info Edge and Temasek. It supports startups in a variety of industries, including foodtech, insurance tech, Web 3, healthtech, fintech, edtech, agritech, and retailtech.
InfoEdge and its investment arm took part in 24 transactions in 2022. They have made notable investments in companies like the business gifting platform Swageazy, the data analytics company Lumiq, and the edtech company Adda247.
In 2020, businessman and investor Bredan Rogers and Hershel Mehta launched a venture fund that is not sector-specific. The VC fund supports millennial-led, early-stage domestic startups.
It declared in 2021 that by the end of 2022, it would invest $10 Mn in more than 50 domestic startups. In 2022, it took part in 23 funding transactions, supporting businesses like Fieldproxy, GoldSetu, and Spare8.
Over 150 Indian startups have so far received funding from the US-based early-stage startup accelerator. India has consistently been the nation with the highest representation in its accelerator batches outside of the US.
Twice a year, Y Combinator offers a three-month long, intensive accelerator programme for early-stage businesses all over the world. Along with numerous investors from around the world, it also hosts a demo day where people can invest in these ventures. 19 Indian startups are included in the list of its biannual cohorts for the summer of 2022.
Y Combinator took part in 23 investment deals in startups in 2022, including Kindly, Orange Health, and BharatX.
In late 2020, the Singapore-based Antler company began selling in India. The VC firm made an announcement at its launch that it would invest $100-$150 million over the following three years in more than 100 Indian startups.
In April 2022, the sector-neutral fund introduced Antler India Residency, a cohort-based programme for aspiring business owners. It took part in 22 deals throughout the year and invested in a variety of startups, including Peakperformer, a business skill coaching startup, and the Voloplay, a fintech startup.
