JOIN USHaving entered Israel, one of top four startup hubs in the world, Indian Angel Network intends to create a link between India and Israel to help startups in either countries leverage expansion opportunities within the network. The company recently announced the fund of 350 crore in April 2017 in India.
The expansion into Israel takes Indian Angel Network’s presence to seven countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel, apart from India.
On entering Israel, Indian Angel Network Chairman and Co- Founder Saurabh Srivastava said, “One of the reason, the whole world’s eyes are on Israel, is its technology. Israel is good at what is called ‘deep technology’. So, artificial intelligence, innovative medical devices, virtual reality, machine learning, data analytics that have application in agriculture, healthcare are popular themes in Israel.”
The company, which has a network of over 450 institutional and individual members, invests in about 30-40 startups every year. On investment plans, Srivastava said, “While we have not earmarked a sum for investment in the startups in Israel, we are not limited by the number of startups or amount of investment. We are wiling to invest as per requirement. The investment can range from $1 million to $10 million, as we identify good, innovative companies.”
Moreover, Indian Angel Network is focussed on helping startups in both countries leverage expansion opportunities in the other country. While India can benefit from the application the Israeli deep technology startups can offer, Israel can benefit from the existence of large market for the consumption of its innovation in India.
“We have challenges in agriculture, education, affordable healthcare, clean energy, and Israel has some technology solutions that can cater to Indian requirements. We can bring those solutions here,” he said, adding, “On the other hand, Israeli is a small economy. To scale their innovations and business, the Israeli startups have to expand outside the country and find clientele. So, we are saying, why don’t you come to India?”
Apart from opening the gateway for cross-border expansion, India Angel Network will also assist the startups with mentoring, market access and production. Meanwhile, it is setting up an office in Israel, which can help Indian startups leverage market opportunity in Israel. It is currently in the process of identifying startups for expansion into Israel.