Exclusive: Angel Investor Alok Mittal, is Debunking the Myth that IITian-led Start-ups are the only Good Bets in the Ecosystem

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Alok Mittal as a full-time entrepreneur and a part-time investor says that his early investments were obviously non-tech related as he was a Cannan Partner. By 2014, he was back at his own game and his style of investing is non-intrusive, where he doesn’t take advisory positions in the companies. “If the entrepreneur needs me then I’m available but I think you should let the founder do their job; I don’t mind losing money for a good cause,” says Mittal who has been an angel investor in many other startups, and will continue to participate in further rounds if the company is viable.
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Mittal has acted as an angel investor in over 40 companies including edtech startup Cue Learn, online meal-booking platform for train passengers TravelKhana; SaaS-based training and recruitment startup Capabiliti; car rental startup JustRide; Envoged, a social platform for buying and selling pre-owned luxury fashion products, and many others varied investments such as StayClose, Supafoods, Autoflik, Cardback, Moneyview, Curofy, Wishberry, Qikwell, Bite Club, Globalthen, Taxspanner, Knowcross, Adda52, among others.

The Big IIT Startup Theory

In regards to his IIT entrepreneurial roots, Mittal says he tries to contribute to debunking the myth that only IITians start great companies and even though he has network commitments only 15% of his portfolio companies are founded by people hailing from the IITs.
Mittal says that he is not swayed by the sector-specific approach but yes, if a sector is suddenly the talk of the market, he is biased to invest in that sector-specific startup.

“Now that I’ve started Indifi, the momentum of investments has gone down but I will never stop investing as I can be hands-off,” says Alok, who says that his passion is borne from commitment.

Lending as an Investor vs. as a Founder

Indifi has a sector-based approach to lending business, which is unique in this arena which means that every client gets a unique solution. Lenders like what they do and so do online businesses like MakeMyTrip, Paytm, Shopclues etc. who use this startup to find easy lending options for their vendors.
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Mittal says that his entrepreneurial journey seems long and arduous as lending might be a $400 Million business but the demand is endless, with new opportunities opening up every other week.

Mittal says that his journey is never-ending as India needs entrepreneurs and founders need capital; every person who is trying to create employment, even if it’s just his own, has no lesser objective than the start-up founder who is trying to create the next billion dollar tech company.