2022 was the year when the dreaded funding winter settled over the Indian startup ecosystem. After a heady 2021, in which money flowed and a record 43 unicorns were created, 2022 brought India’s startup ecosystem back to sobering reality. But in spite of the slowdown, there were plenty of early-stage investments in Indian startups. India’s top angel investors, once again, stepped up, and backed plenty of young startups. As per Venture Intelligence data, these were India’s top angel investors of 2022.
India’s top angel investors of 2022
1.Kunal Shah
67 angel investments
Freecharge and CRED founder Kunal Shah has always been a prolific angel investor — startup legend says that he often agrees to invest with a simple WhatsApp message — and he continued to be India’s top angel investor. Kunal Shah invested in 67 startups this year, including Kredmint, Growth School, Allo Health, PickYourTrail and Gold Setu, besides backing a few overseas startups, including Lista in the Philippines, and Jovian in the US. Kunal Shah’s angel investments, though, were down nearly 40% from last year, when he had been an angel investor in 97 startups.
2. Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal
34 and 30 angel investments respectively
Snapdeal might not be making the news anymore, but its founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have been quietly backing hundreds of startups as angel investors. Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal invest through their investment arm Titan Capital, and were angel investors in 34 and 30 startups respectively in 2022. This was a relative slowdown from last year, when the duo had invested in 64 startups each. But the angel investing duo is also getting some big exits — both are slated to win big when Mamaearth goes public next year.
3. Aman Gupta
16 angel investments
Boat’s Aman Gupta starred on Shark Tank as an angel investor, and also made it to the list of the top angel investors of 2022. Even as Boat dropped its own IPO plans, Aman Gupta invested in 16 startups this year. His Shark Tank appearance appears to have helped him buck the trend of slowdown in investments — Gupta’s angel investments rose from 7 last year to 16 this year.
4. Karthik Bhat
16 angel investments
Through his corporate career, Karthik Bhat has worked with Goldman Sachs and news portal Dailyhunt. He now runs investment firm Force Ventures. In 2022, was fourth on the list of India’s top angel investors with 15 angel investments, 50% more than his 10 angel investments in 2021. He has invested in startups including Zetwerk, Boat, and Wint Wealth.
5. Sandeep Naliwal
15 angel investments
Sandeep Naliwal runs the crypto platform Polygon, and was an angel investor in 15 startups this year, mainly in the crypto space. In 2021, he was an angel investor in 3 startups.
6. Sujeet Kumar
15 angel investments
Udaan had a tough 2022, having laid off more than 350 employees, but founder Sujeet Kumar ended up being an angel investor in 15 startups. In 2022, Sujeet Kumar had been even more prolific, investing in 22 startups. This placed him 6th in the list of India’s top angel investors of 2022.
7. Gokul Rajaram
13 angel investments
Gokul Rajaram, who is an executive at Doordash, was 7th on the list of India’s top angel investors of 2022. He was an angel investor in 13 startups this year, up from 8 investments last year.
8. Varun Alagh
13 angel investments
Varun Alagh would’ve had a busy year — his company Mamaearth filed its DRHP to go public on the stock markets in December. But Alagh kept himself busy investing in other startups as well, investing in 13 startups this year. Last year, he was an angel investor in 11 starutps.
9. Maninder Gulati
11 angel investments
Maninder Gulati is Oyo Rooms’ Chief Strategy Officer, but he also smartly doubled up as an angel investor, investing in 11 startups in 2022. This was nearly double his 6 startup angel investments in 2022.