LetsVenture launches Women' Angel Investor Network

Lets Venture Fund, the angel investment tech platform has announced the launch of Women Angel Network. The platform aims TO provide access to women angel investors to invest in early and growth stage startups and also provide the flexibility to mentor and support them. This programme is being spearheaded by Sunitha Ramaswamy and Syna Dehnugara of LetsVenture. 

According to a press statement, LetsVenture aims to onboard at least a 100 women angel investors in 2021; and in addition will launch at least five Lead Syndicates run by women.

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Commenting on the launch of this dedicated Women Angel Network, Shanti Mohan, CEO and Co-founder, LetsVenture said, “LetsVenture started in 2013 with the aim of democratising access to angel investing; and while we have done decently at a group level, for instance in 2020 alone, we had over 700 angel investors join the platform and 35 percent of them are new to the asset class and over 45 percent are ‘professionals and CXOs’. Even within these buckets, the ratio of female participation is abysmally low and we believe there needs to be concerted effort to change this and therefore we are launching a dedicated program for women angel investors.” 

According to a study conducted by LetsVenture, India has about 10,000 angel investors and only one of these are women. The launch of the platform comes at the backdrop of a strong business case for women to invest, take board positions and also add value to startups. 

To encourage women professionals, CXOs and founders to explore angel investing, LetsVenture is launching a learning program for women investors, a dedicated community for networking and lower cheque sizes on the platform for a capped timeframe.

The learning programme will provide Cohort Based Learning, engagement with other angel investors and open networking circles for women. LetsVenture is a sector agnostic platform and women angel investors will invest via the platform in startups that align with their investment thesis. 

Sunitha KR, President - Early Stage, LetsVenture, said,“Having spoken to several women investors as well as those that are suited to fall into this bucket, we found that the biggest impediments were the lack of access to networks where knowledge and startup deal flow is shared. So, an important pillar of the programme is to create a rolling investor education series while opening up the platform for women to actively assess and access startup investments. The other key aspect of the programme is to provide a platform for women angels to also actively mentor startups and provide guidance to founders in their areas of expertise."

The company stated that through this angel network, it is is looking to improve diversity and gender parity among the investor community and over time improve the number of women on board positions in both listed and unlisted companies in India.