Greetings and a Happy New Financial Year 2023-24! The year 2022-23 ended with a challenging situation for startup founders and investors. This situation was influenced by several macroeconomic factors, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the recession in Europe (especially in the UK), inflationary pressures on the US economy, resulting in the federal funds rate increasing multiple times from 0% to an all-time high of nearly 5%, which had not been seen for the last three to four decades. Additionally, there was the collapse of two significant US banks, SVB and Signature Bank. These circumstances have led to a reduction in investment amounts by large VC firms, and the investment thesis of several angel investors has slowed down.
Chairman's Note
Despite these challenges, as angel investors, we are committed to providing the required support to early-stage startups. We have invested in around 10 startups during this year, compared to 8+ startups investments which we have been doing in the last few years. We believe that the current market conditions provide a good opportunity for angel investors, as valuations have decreased. We anticipate that good business startups will survive these macroeconomic situation and will have an opportunity to create long-term value thus fostering entrepreneurship.
As a team, we are working towards making Hyderabad Angels future-ready and sustainable. We will be providing more information on this in the next financial year. We expect these conditions to continue for at least two more quarters. However, we will continue to support our portfolio companies and potential startups for investment. We are also moving towards setting up a Category 1 Fund to elevate our position in the industry. Once again, we would like to thank our members, startup founders, ecosystem partners, and various stakeholders for supporting Hyderabad Angels and our team.
Vice Chairman's Note
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up”
-Babe Ruth, Baseball Legend
Success comes with continuity in our efforts. This is what we preach to our portfolio startups to overcome the current turmoil. We are in continuous support of potential emerging founders. Despite the recent economic downturn, we have seen a few successes in the past, and we hope to continue seeing more in the future.
Keeping other factors in mind, we have observed that HA’s portfolio companies are resilient in managing the current macroeconomic situation. Although they have not grown at the same pace as last year, we have observed that many of the portfolio companies have raised funds at their last round valuations, and a few mergers and acquisitions are happening in this space with decent internal rate of returns (IRR) instead of valuation multiples. In the current year, HA has seen 3+ exits, and another 3 exits are lined up for the next year.
HA has invested in nearly 70+ startups, with a potential outflow of more than $11 million, with strong support from our members who have been backing this community for more than a decade. We wish to see a positive outcome in FY24 compared to FY23, as economic situations always have cycles, and we continue to improve our investment thesis going forward.
As a team, we see that Space tech, Gaming, Property tech, Healthcare-Biotech & Medical Devices, Insurtech, Deeptech, and Enterprise SAAS continue to do well in the coming 1-2 years compared to sectors that have done well in the last decade.
We look at 23-24 with renewed confidence and look forward to your support in our endeavours, as always.
During 2022- 2023 Financial Year HA Invested in 10 start-ups which include, Bellplus Media, My3dMeta, TurboHire, EyeMyEye, Freed, VS Mani, Supercluster, Glamplus, Lemme be, Sids farm, and exited from three companies Thrillophillia, Metamorphosis and partial exit from Zineone
Last Quarter Investments:
VS Mani: VS Mani & Co. is an FMCG brand that focuses on offering authentic South Indian coffee and packaged foods. Catering to the growing South Indian diaspora that has migrated away from their home towns within India and outside of India
Lemme Be: Lemme Be is a GenZ inclusive period care brand. Lemme Be was born with a core ethos of making safe & sustainable period care options available to all menstruators including teen and young menstruators, trans menstruators and differently abled folks.
EyeMyEye: EyeMyEye enables consumers to get uality/branded eyewear at affordable prices. EyeMyEye aims to organize the economy end of the value segment market for both consumers as well as retailers
Events and Collaborations:
- Hysea- 30Th Annual Summit attended
- IIT Madras E-cell Start-up pitch session attended
- IIT Hyderabad- CFHE Medtech Panel Discussion and start-up Pitch session attended
- Business Women Expo 2023 attended
- 24- March 2023- HA Social and Fund Discussion
