Padmaja Ruparel, 

What started as a small group of friends who wanted to back startups is today a network of nearly 463 angel investors (typically high net-worth individuals who invest their personal money in start-ups, in return for equity). The Indian Angel Network, Ruparel’s brainchild, has backed 135 startups across 17 sectors in 11 countries since 2006, with an average IRR, or internal rate of return, of 32%—an impressive track record in an industry where failure rate is 20:80. The network invests where the gap is: In the ticket size of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 6 crore. IAN is now launching a fund with a corpus of Rs 450 crore, 60% of which has already been raised through domestic investors.