Angel investment platform LetsVenture has registered as an angel Alternative Investment Fund, under the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), enabling the platform to operate as a privately pooled investment vehicle, attracting investments from both Indian and foreign investors.
The investment platform is looking to garner more angel investors, to boost funding in the startups.
Shanti Mohan, Co-Founder of LetsVenture, said, “As an AIF, we can empower entrepreneurs, while also allowing investors to invest smaller amounts and diversify their portfolio.”
LetVenture is also looking to push startup investment as an asset class, and it is already in discussions with wealth management platforms.
The new move is expected to drive the angel investments to ₹1,000 crore, through the platform, considerably boosting the investment of ₹450 crores, over the last five years.
According to industry members, an AIF investment structure for angels will helps startups, exempting them from the ‘angel tax’, also helping the investment platform create level playing field with venture capital seed funds.
Angel AIF is a subcategory of Venture Capital Fund, under Category I of Angel Investment Fund, as per SEBI. It enables angel investors to commit a minimum of ₹25 lakh over the five years. Angel AIF should have a minimum corpus of ₹10 crores.
Founded by Sanjay Jha and Shanti Mohan in 2013, LetsVenture provides a platform to connect startups looking to raise funds with the angel investors looking to invest.
The platform has helped a number of startups raise seed funding and establish their business over the years. Some of the notable startups backed by LetsVenture includes Mumbai-based crowdfunding platform Wishberry, Mumbai-based edtech platform Testbook, and New Delhi-based revenue optimisation platform AdPushup, among many others.