360 ONE, formerly known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, has acquired a controlling stake in the investment platform Mumbai Angels Network. Following the deal, the investment platform has also launched two funds to back early-stage startups.
Mumbai Angels launched an angel fund with a target of Rs 1,000 crore and a green shoe option of Rs 200 crore, and a venture capital fund of Rs 300 crore with a Rs 200-crore green shoe option.
360 ONE picked up a 91% stake in Mumbai Angels and the deal was closed in November 2022. Media reports estimate the deal value to be at Rs 45.73 crore.
In 2021, Bain Capital bought a 24.98% stake in 360 One for Rs. 3,680 crore. As of September 30, 2022, 360 One had aggregate assets of more than Rs 3.33 lakh crore under management.
The platform has over 700 investors spread across 60+ global cities. It has investments in a variety of domains such as – technology, consumer, life sciences, defense technology, space technology, electric vehicles, and hemp seeds. Its portfolio companies include InMobi, Dhruva Space, Myntra, Purplle, and BluSmart.
The Category-1 VC fund will seek investors looking to invest in a wider portfolio. This fund will enable investors to participate in all deals on the platform. “With this new set of offerings, we will be able to provide clients some interesting investment opportunities at an early stage in companies, which have the potential to disrupt their respective industries,“ said 360 ONE founder and CEO Karan Bhagat in a VCCircle report.
The launch of the funds comes as many small and large investors are shifting to early-stage deals as late-stage deals have turned risky in the face of macroeconomic headwinds.
Early-stage deals kept the India startup story burning bright amid funding winter, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE‘s India Deal Review: Q3 2022 report. Pre-seed and seed stage deals drove volumes in Q3 at 139, up 10% from 126 in Q2. These early-stage startups garnered a total of $202.9 million, compared with $279 million in the second quarter.
Other investors with an eye on early-stage deals include Merak Ventures, which launched a $100 million fund to invest in 18-20 Indian startups over the next three-four years. In October, Fireside Ventures, an early-stage venture fund that invests in digital-first consumer brands, closed its third fund at $225 million (Rs1,830 crore). In December, India’s We Founder Circle (WFC), a founders-led startup investment platform, launched a fund to invest in early-stage startups in India.