{"id":7624,"date":"2013-01-30T16:02:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T10:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.entecity.com\/?p=7624"},"modified":"2013-01-30T16:03:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T10:33:00","slug":"infosys-kris-gopalakrishnan-anchors-mallu-angel-network-for-kerala-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/infosys-kris-gopalakrishnan-anchors-mallu-angel-network-for-kerala-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"Infosys’ Kris Gopalakrishnan anchors ‘Mallu Angel Network’ for Kerala startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kerala is a popular IT destination in the country. The state has a sprawling startup village<\/a> which aims to incubate nearly 1000 software companies in 10 years and they are the first in india to get the lightening fast 1Gbps Internet connection<\/a>. It even got great mentors like Kris Gopalakrishnan co-chairman of the IT giant Infosys. Only thing that was missing is an angel network to provide capital for a business start-up.<\/p>\n

Kerala now got an angel network, called the Mallu Angel Network<\/strong> <\/em>led by Kris Gopalakrishnan and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. According to the Wall Street Journal’s India blog<\/a>, the angel network plans to have 1,000 members in 2 years with each member investing up to $183,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also planning to leverage established startup financing networks such as Mumbai Angel Network and the Indian Angel Network,\u201d said the blog.<\/p>\n

“There are no angel investors or role models in Kerala to inspire the youth to take up entrepreneurship. There is no support system of mentors and technical support,” said Gopalakrishnan, who grew up in Trivandrum, the state capital.
\nHe will contribute 5% of the corpus of the Mallu Angel Network. Some of the state’s top entrepreneurs \u2014 including CJ George, the founder of broking firm Geojit BNP Paribas, Shyam Srinivasan, chief executive officer of Federal Bank and Sanjay Vijayakumar, chief executive officer of MobMe Wireless will invest in the network.<\/p>\n

The Mallu Angel network<\/strong> could be seen as a direct result of a recent boom in angel investing across the country. The Indian Angel Network, the largest in the country, has invested in many ventures such as Hungry Zone, MobileNxt, TaxSpanner.com, StayZilla.com, Groffr and Druva.<\/p>\n

Kerala seems to be building up its eco system with active support from the Government. The government of Kerala launched its ‘Student entrepreneurship policy<\/a>‘ in October. Earlier Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced that universities will give 20 % attendance and 4 % grace mark for student entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

The Mallu Angel network, which will have about 100 members from diverse sectors such as jewellery, aviation, banking and hospitality, aims to make Kerala a leader in technology-based entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

” Life At Startup Village “<\/h2>\n