ah! Ventures sets up Rs 150Cr Angel Fund

Investment platform ah! Ventures said it has launched its maiden angel fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore and a greenshoe option of Rs 50 crore to invest in early-stage and Pre-Series A startups.

The new sector-agnostic fund will aim to invest Rs 3-5 crore each in 30-35 pre-Series A startups, a statement said, adding the core focus areas for it will be healthcare, fintech, education, B2B SaaS (business-to-business Software-as-a-Service), enterprise tech, D2C (Direct-to-Consumer), among others.

The fund is expected to close its first funding in the next 60 days, and its target is likely to be fully invested by the third year, the company said.

"We are yet to witness the full potential of thousands of budding startups, especially if they get the requisite support and level playing field during the early stages. Our Angel Fund aims to do just that–substantially propel those next big ideas and help them take the leap," said Amit Kumar, Partner at ah! Ventures Fund.

ah! Ventures has invested Rs 250 crore in startups so far across more than 25 sectors, and in 28 follow-on rounds. Its portfolio includes Inc42, NewsBytes, Bolo Live, Ketto, Testbook and Expertons, among others.

Set up in 2010 in Mumbai, ah! Ventures is the brainchild of Harshad Lahoti, an engineering student from Pune, who began his career with Larsen & Toubro in 2002.