The Indian Angel Network, a group of angel investors, has appointed former Cisco director Pratik Bose as a managing partner of the firm’s recently announced IAN Fund.
Pratik Bose has over 20 years of work experience and most recently oversaw private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy for the Asia Pacific and Japan region at networking equipment giant Cisco. In a statement, Pratik Bose said:
I am excited to be part of the IAN Fund and grow the best in class seed/early stage investor. This fund is exactly what the ecosystem needs as this will bring a paradigm shift for startups.
Prior to his stint at Cisco, Pratik Bose founded Eka Systems, a Washington DC-based Internet of Things (IoT) startup that provides networking solutions for energy management and utility operations. He holds a master’s degree in networking and telecommunications from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
The IAN Fund, which has a corpus of ₹350 crores, plans to invest in early-stage ventures engaged in sectors such as software as a service, financial technology, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and hardware. Earlier this year, in April, IAN Fund marked its first close of ₹175 crore.
The fund counts many high-profile names such as Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former chief executive of Infosys, Sunil Munjal, joint managing director at Hero Corp, and Dr Devi Shetty, founder and chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya as part of its advisory committee.
IAN co-founder Saurabh Srivastava, Quatrro Global Services Pvt. Ltd. chairman Raman Roy and Ajai Chowdhry, a founding member of HCL group, will be part of the investment committee at the fund. IAN Fund will work out of the network’s office in Delhi.
Indian Angel Network was established in 2006 by Saurabh Srivastava and Padmaja Ruparel. It is among the largest angel networks in Asia with nearly 479 independent entrepreneurs and investors and seven institutions as its members. It has so far facilitated over 50 investment deals in start-ups.
