ET Bureau AHMEDABAD: Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), a Singapore-based platform for social investors, is preparing to more than double membership from India over the following 12 months.
The platform, among other things, will allow companies and grant-making foundations to invest in social startups or projects through their corporate social responsibility budgets either in the form of grant or equity.
"Companies (invest in social enterprises) on their own via incubators but we are going to make it a more structured and informed approach where the social projects or startups are verified," said Binali Suhandani, chief executive-India, AVPN, adding that funding is a challenge for startup incubators in India and AVPN plans to play a catalyst.
AVPN has been set up in India since August 2016 with its first office and headquarter based in Ahmedabad.
AVPN has 382 investor members across Asia, of which 68 are from India. The network aims to reach at least 150 members from India over the next year, Suhandani said. Also, to be more accessible to companies and social startups in the country, AVPN is considering converting its online deals platform, Deal Share, into a dedicated website to boost social entrepreneurs and projects in the country.
"With regards to fund deployment by members towards social investment, a minimum 50% increase in the 2016-17 figure of $4 billion would be targeted," Suhandani said, adding that the company would deploy this capital across grant, equity, debt, convertible debt, convertible grant, and guarantee.
"The Central government has published guidelines for providing private sector support to incubators, and also for setting up new incubators as part of its Startup India initiative," said Suhandani. "We hope that with the startup momentum promoted by the government, we will see the value of the social startups and extend the scope of investing CSR money directly into them."
About 20% of AVPN's members are from the venture capital sector. Among these are The Abraaj Group, Unitus Capital, Deshpande Foundation, Lok Advisory, Intellecap, India Angel Network, and India Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
The platform, among other things, will allow companies and grant-making foundations to invest in social startups or projects through their corporate social responsibility budgets either in the form of grant or equity.
"Companies (invest in social enterprises) on their own via incubators but we are going to make it a more structured and informed approach where the social projects or startups are verified," said Binali Suhandani, chief executive-India, AVPN, adding that funding is a challenge for startup incubators in India and AVPN plans to play a catalyst.
AVPN has been set up in India since August 2016 with its first office and headquarter based in Ahmedabad.
AVPN has 382 investor members across Asia, of which 68 are from India. The network aims to reach at least 150 members from India over the next year, Suhandani said. Also, to be more accessible to companies and social startups in the country, AVPN is considering converting its online deals platform, Deal Share, into a dedicated website to boost social entrepreneurs and projects in the country.
"With regards to fund deployment by members towards social investment, a minimum 50% increase in the 2016-17 figure of $4 billion would be targeted," Suhandani said, adding that the company would deploy this capital across grant, equity, debt, convertible debt, convertible grant, and guarantee.
"The Central government has published guidelines for providing private sector support to incubators, and also for setting up new incubators as part of its Startup India initiative," said Suhandani. "We hope that with the startup momentum promoted by the government, we will see the value of the social startups and extend the scope of investing CSR money directly into them."
About 20% of AVPN's members are from the venture capital sector. Among these are The Abraaj Group, Unitus Capital, Deshpande Foundation, Lok Advisory, Intellecap, India Angel Network, and India Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
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