Equentis Angel Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Equentis Angel Fund is the maiden Category I Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) launched by Equentis Wealth Advisory Services Limited, a Mumbai-based, SEBI-registered equity research and wealth advisory firm founded by Manish Goel in 2009 (formal AIF registration: IN/AIF1/23-24/1419). Equentis built its reputation over 15+ years running retail equity research and portfolio management products ("Research & Ranking", PMS), and the Angel Fund extends that research-driven underwriting discipline into early-stage private company investing. The stated thesis is explicitly sector-agnostic: back startups with an ARR benchmark of ₹10 crore+, targeting a total addressable market north of $1 billion, with a preference for tech-driven, digitally-scalable business models. Deals are sourced and underwritten by an Investment Committee led by Founder & MD Manish Goel and Chief Investment Officer Jaspreet Singh Arora, and the fund emphasizes multilayer screening plus financial and legal due diligence before each check.
Stage Focus
The fund targets Pre-Series A, Series A, and Bridge/Pre-Series B rounds — deliberately positioned as the "smart money" that comes in just after friends-and-family/pre-seed but before larger institutional Series A/B rounds. Its own investor-facing FAQ frames outside investors as needing a five-year, ₹25 lakh minimum AIF commitment, consistent with a multi-year deployment and hold period typical of early-stage venture investing.
Check Size
Equentis Angel Fund states a cap of up to ₹10 crore (~$1.2M) per startup. Observed checks across its first four disclosed deals ranged from roughly ₹6 crore (~$720K, NOTO) to ₹10 crore (~$1.2M, Sharpsell.ai — reportedly the fund's largest-ever Cat I AIF check at the time), with ₹7.28 crore into Tan90 Thermal and a ₹9.7 crore Series A first-close lead into OORJAA. The fund is targeting a total corpus of ₹500 crore (~$60M) and, as of its most recent public update, has 400+ angel investors committed to the vehicle.
Lead Tendency
Equentis Angel Fund has led every disclosed round to date: NOTO's pre-Series A, Sharpsell.ai's Series A, and OORJAA's Series A first close. It also participated in a later investment into existing NABVENTURES-led portfolio company Tan90 Thermal Solutions. This is a fund that positions itself as an anchor/lead investor for the rounds it enters, not a passive follower.
Recent Activity
The fund launched publicly in December 2024 with a ₹500 crore target corpus and a mandate to deploy into 40–50 early-stage Indian startups over 18–24 months, with initial thematic interest spanning defence, consumer tech, deep tech, logistics, and fintech. Since then it has been actively deploying: it led NOTO's ₹21 crore pre-Series A round in April 2025 (as the round's largest investor), led Sharpsell.ai's ₹30 crore Series A in July 2025, backed Tan90 Thermal Solutions with ₹7.28 crore in March 2026, and most recently led OORJAA's ₹9.7 crore Series A first close in August 2026 alongside Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). Inflection Point Ventures has now co-invested alongside Equentis Angel Fund in at least two of these rounds (NOTO and OORJAA), making it the fund's most frequent visible syndicate partner.
Portfolio Highlights
- NOTO (eatnoto.com) — Mumbai-based low-calorie/vegan ice cream and frozen dessert brand; ₹21 crore pre-Series A, led by Equentis with ₹6 crore, alongside IPV, JITO, and Signal Ventures (April 2025).
- Sharpsell.ai (sharpsell.ai) — Bengaluru-based AI-powered sales playbook automation / sales enablement platform serving 2.2M+ frontline sales users; ₹30 crore Series A, with ₹10 crore from Equentis Angel Fund (July 2025).
- Tan90 Thermal Solutions (tan90thermal.com) — Chennai-based deep-tech climate/cold-chain company building phase-change-material thermal management products; Equentis backed the company with ₹7.28 crore (March 2026), following an earlier NABVENTURES-led Series A.
- OORJAA (oorjaa.tech) — Mumbai-based AI-powered, technology-led intra-city and mid-mile logistics platform (SaaS stack "Datashastra") operating across 200+ cities; ₹9.7 crore Series A first close led by Equentis Angel Fund with IPV (August 2026).
No exits have been publicly reported yet, consistent with a fund that is under two years old.
Team
- Manish Goel — Founder & Managing Director. First-generation entrepreneur who founded Equentis Wealth Advisory in 2009 and chairs the Angel Fund's Investment Committee. Previously Finance Director at ICCON Limited advising on European real estate investments. Holds a Company Secretary qualification, a law degree, and a Master's in International Trade and Finance (UK).
- Jaspreet Singh Arora — Chief Investment Officer. Co-leads the Angel Fund's Investment Committee alongside Manish Goel and also directs Equentis's public-markets research and PMS strategy. Previously Head of Research at Systematix Shares & Stocks. Frequently quoted in Indian financial media (Moneycontrol, Zee Business) on market strategy.
Equentis's broader leadership bench (Nikita Choksi, CFO; Rakesh Gupta, COO & Compliance Officer; and others) supports the group's wealth-advisory and PMS businesses but is not specifically identified with AIF deal execution.
Decision Process
Equentis Angel Fund runs an Investment Committee model (not a solo-GP structure), led jointly by Manish Goel and Jaspreet Singh Arora, with a stated multilayer screening and due-diligence process (financial, legal, market) ahead of an investment committee decision. The firm also promotes direct founder-investor interaction ("Interact with Startup Founders Before Investing") as part of its process.
Founder Preferences
Public materials emphasize revenue-stage traction (ARR ₹10 crore+) over purely pre-revenue bets, large addressable markets ($1B+ TAM), and technology-driven, digitally scalable business models. The fund brands itself as sector-agnostic, but its first four deals and initial thematic messaging (defence, consumer tech, deep tech, logistics, fintech) suggest a practical lean toward deep-tech/climate-tech hardware, AI-enabled B2B SaaS, and tech-enabled consumer/logistics platforms.
Geographic Focus
India-focused, headquartered in Mumbai (Lower Parel). Portfolio companies to date are spread across Indian startup hubs — Mumbai (NOTO, OORJAA), Bengaluru (Sharpsell.ai), and Chennai (Tan90 Thermal Solutions) — with no disclosed investments outside India.