SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — AngelList, the online platform for raising venture capital, hit the ground running in the U.S. market — it helped raise over $160 million for startups last year, and now the company is looking to expand its venture to India.
The U.S.-based firm is working to launch “Syndicates,” which will allow investors to team up and pool funds for potential investments. Its hiring service in the South Asian nation continues to thrive, and now, the company has brought aboard Utsav Somani, an angel investor himself, to lead the charge in the India efforts.
As of late, India’s investor community has scaled back on later-stage deals after watching some capital-intensive projects run into problems, but the seed end of the market remains healthy. In total, startups in the country raised $2.1 billion in the first six months of this year.
Somani will be based in New Delhi, but will make regular trips across the entire nation. Aside from helping India’s startup community to better connect with itself, the idea is to enable AngelList’s community of investors in the U.S. and elsewhere to tap into India for hiring or investment purposes.
Currently, AngelList is working to gain the necessary approval of India’s Security and Exchange Board, Somani wrote in a blog post.
“My role will consist of opening dialogue with government officials and regulators with suggestions that’ll benefit startups and investors in India. I’ll map out the Indian regulatory framework so AngelList can come in with [its] pop-up VC structure that enables venture investing online at scale,” he wrote.
He believes AngelList’s primary objectives fit precisely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Startup India” initiative, which was established earlier this year and is designed to increase innovation and jobs inside of the country.
“Almost everyone in India knows about AngelList, hires through it, or at least has a presence there,” Somani said.
