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Entrepreneur-turned-VC launches blog

Alok Mittal, the co-founder of JobsAhead.com (acquired by Monster.com in 2004) and now a venture capitalist with Barings India Private Equity, has launched a blog titled VentureWoods.

In one of his early posts, Mittal talks about "Band of Angels India", a group of successful entrepreneurs and executives (of which he is a member) with a passion to invest in and mentor early stage businesses.

The application process to BoA involves sending in an executive summary to any of the members (yes, investors themselves take decisions here, there are no “investment managers”) and convince them that what you have is a potentially successful business. The member than “sponsors” the proposal to the whole group. Members in the group make individual decisions on whether to invest in any particular opportunity — for example, 4 members may decide to fund a given venture. The members continue to be involved in the mentoring process.

Typical deal size at BoA is less than Rs 2 crores. We expect higher investments to be supported by other venture capital players. BoA is diversified in its industry coverage — we will invest in any industry where we have members (and hence an understanding of that space). We look at deals from across the country. Some coverage on us. You may mail in your proposals to any of the members directly.

Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence India, which tracks venture capital activity in India and Indian-founded companies worldwide. View sample issues of TSJ Media's Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.

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