With biggies like Kunal Bahl and Rishad Premji as investors, LetsVenture redefines early-stage investing in India

BENGALURU: Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and a host of other technology and startup heavyweights have co-invested in LetsVenture, an online angel funding platform that is redefining early-stage investing in India.

Wipro’s Rishad Premji, Manipal Global Education’s Mohandas Pai, Freshdesk’s Girish Mathrubootham, independent angel investor Sanjay Mehta and Snapdeal cofounder Rohit Bansal are among the other marquee individuals who pooled together an undisclosed investment in LetsVenture’s latest fundraising. Times Internet, Singapore Angel Network and IDG Ventures India also participated in the funding round led by Accel Partners and People Group’s Anupam Mittal.



LetsVenture will use the money from the Series A round to expand and rope in more global investors, said CEO Shanti Mohan. Founded in 2013 by Mohan and Sanjay Jha, the funding marketplace has 1,200 investors from 20 countries and has raised $17 million (Rs 109 .9 crore) for 53 startups so far.

“In the last year, LetsVenture has unlocked a new category of angel investors online—entrepreneurs-turned-investors, second-generation family businesses, and global Indians who are actively looking for a trusted marketplace to discover high-quality, curated Indian startups they could invest in,” said Mohan.

LetsVenture plans to double its team to 40 people by the end of the year. The company is also carving new segments to enable more focused deal-making. It also recently opened an education-tech incubator.

“Although we had a lot of angel funding groups, we never had a systematic market where angel investors can invest,” Nilekani said.

Software product thinktank Ispirt’s Sharad Sharma and Sanat Rao have joined the advisory board of LetsVenture.

“Just like the last 10 years was about creating doctors and engineers, this decade will be about creating entrepreneurs. It’s a foundational period now,” said Mittal. “I hope LetsVenture succeeds in this and I make money off that.”

Unlike in India, the quantum of early-stage investments in the United States is equal or more than the total quantum of late-stage investments. In the United States, early-stage companies captured $15.8 billion in investments in 2014, while late-stage deals amounted to $12.0 billion, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

“To have a high success rate, we need high failure rate, and for that we need more risk capital,” said Mittal, adding that LetsVenture is one of the few companies enabling that.

LetsVenture, which raised Rs 4 crore from a group of 21 angel investors last year, competes with the likes of Globevestor and ah!Ventures in India, and is often compared to AngelList in the United States. The platform is currently free for investors, and charges startups 2% of the funds raised at fee.