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Zero To One, a network of early-stage investors and angel investors, has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) nod to set up a Rs 300 crore Category-1 Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). 

The sector-agnostic fund will focus on edtech, healthtech, agritech, medtech, and cleantech startups and provide funding to early-stage, pre-seed, and Series A technology companies.

Zero To One was launched in May 2022 by Praveen Kaushik (Director) and Rahul Massey (Director). Anurag Agrawal joined the angel fund network as the chief analyst and investment officer. 

“The idea behind founding Zero To One is not only to fund startups but create an ecosystem that can assist and support startups to achieve new heights,” Praveen Kaushik, Founder and Director of Zero To One, said. “We believe the AIF would not only fund the young startups but also fuel them with the synergy, support, and mentorship from the ecosystem we have created.”

A community of early-stage investors, Zero To One comprises 500+ angels, high net-worth individuals (HNIs), and venture capitalists (VCs) across India, Singapore, Dubai, the US, and the UK. 

The network secures investor interests who bet on early-stage startups through an in-house, comprehensive screening mechanism to analyse “suitable” startups, offers them an investor syndicate to share risks, and diversifies their investment portfolios to maximise returns. 

Early-stage funding has been a “torching light” when the global private equity funding space is witnessing a downfall. In the first quarter of FY22, early-stage startups received investments of more than $2 billion.

“New-age investors are breaking the myth of “Indians being risk-averse investors” and rewriting investment scenarios. This is the same set of investors who believe technology would change society and are bullish on entrepreneurs who can lead the disruption through technology-led innovation. We are poised to be a “partner in growth” of early-stage startups,” Praveen added.