Experts advise India to seek angel investors for start-up boom

Boston, US: Developing countries like India should encourage angel investors to bolster the country’s start-up ecosystem, said Chris Ilsley, president and CEO of InnoVenture Labs, a start-up incubator based in Greater Boston of USA.

In an interaction with international journalists, as part of the International Reporting Tour (IRT) organised by the US department of state’s Foreign Press Centre and Meridian International Centre, Ilsley said that since it is difficult for early-stage start-ups in developing countries to secure funding from venture capitalists, these countries should encourage angel investors.

“This will help start-ups overcome financial barriers and navigate the challenges of early-stage growth. It will also promote entrepreneurship and innovation in developing countries,” he said.

Ilsley said InnoVenture Labs had worked with 85 start-ups over 15 years and generated over $1.1 billion worth of investments, besides creating 460 patents.

A non-profit technology incubator, InnoVenture Labs is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, comprehensive services and robust sponsorship. It supports its members and graduates from the pre-incubation stage all the way to scaling up.

In another media interaction session, Dr Johannes Fruehauf, co-founder and president of LabCentral, a biotech start-up launchpad, said they were holding discussions with the Telangana state government for collaboration to support and nurture early-stage biotech and life sciences start-ups.

“Yes, we had some discussions with local government. There is interest to work in Hyderabad. We are very open to it,” Fruehauf said.

LabCentral is a shared laboratory space in Cambridge of Massachusetts in the US.

“We started LabCentral in Boston 10 years ago and it has since helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and start-ups. We have space here for about 6,570 companies. They are all pretty small. So, it’s typically like a founder and their first one or two employees. And then hopefully, things go right and they grow,” Fruehaff said.