The Association of Prominent Angels in India (APAII) was established by a coalition of over thirty angel funds, family offices, micro-venture funds, and private investors. The goal of this initiative is to strengthen domestic capital for early-stage startups and form a unified voice for the sector.
According to the statement, the national body aims to increase the base of angel investors in India to one million and establish the country as the world's largest unicorn creation hub within the next two decades.
APAII will also serve as a bridge between angel investors and policymakers, acting as a regulatory and operational link. Satish Kataria, an experienced venture capitalist, has been appointed as the association's first executive director.
According to APAII, there are currently over 100 angel funds operating in India and about one hundred thousand angel investors who allocated nearly $1 billion to early-stage investments in the fiscal year 25.
The association aims to attract $3 billion in early-stage capital over the next five years and scale up angel participation to $30 billion annually by 2047. TiE Mumbai supports APAII.
Apurva Rajan Sharma, President of APAII, emphasized the need to create a deeper and more organized base of domestic risk capital to achieve the goal of 1,000 unicorns by 2047, noting that more than just more startups are required.
He added that the existence of APAII is aimed at forming a single, professional community of angel investors capable of supporting Indian founders on a large scale. APAII's main areas of activity include capital formation, policy advocacy, investor education, governance and due diligence, and expanding the angel ecosystem beyond major cities into second and third-tier regions.