Rathnakar Samavedam, Investment Director & CEO of
Hyderabad Angels
Hyderabad Angels, one of the oldest angel networks in the country, has announced the launch of a ₹150 crore venture capital fund, marking a strategic shift in its approach to the start-up ecosystem.
According to Rathnakar Samavedam, Managing Partner at HAF.VC (Hyderabad Angels Fund) has already invested in three start-ups, including the spacetech start-up Dhruva Space, STAN (social app for gamers and creators), and BambooBox, an AI-backed business-to-business marketing platform.
“We are targeting to support 12 to 15 start-ups over the next two years, focusing on emerging sectors which promise high growth, while maintaining a check size of about ₹3.5 crores,” Rathnakar, who is also the Investment Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hyderabad Angels, told businessline.
“We tell our Limited Partners (LPs) that this (investments in start-ups) is not just an asset class. It is an investment in the future of India. We advocate a portfolio approach because if you invest in only one start-up and wait for it to succeed, it is unlikely to do so. You should identify a top group and invest across them,” he said.
“The majority of the resources are used to get 15 different runners off the starting line, reserving 33 per cent of its fund for follow-on investments in its highest-performing winners,” he said.
This disciplined strategy is built on HA’s 15-year track record, which includes over 80 investments and 21 exits, yielding an average 3.2 times return for its investors.
Stating that the national economy is poised for sustained high growth rates over the next decade on its journey towards 2047, Ratnakar said that the fund is structured to maximise exits by 2034.
HA’s current focus remains on identifying founders who prioritise execution over passion, specifically those who can use customer revenue to fund daily operations while utilising investor capital solely for speed and acceleration.
He said the fund followed a rigorous selection process. “We vet about 100 start-ups in a month to fund just one candidate.
Published on January 3, 2026
