Making leeway for generating greater impact in Eastern India
I3N sources and screens enterprises and provides them with extensive consultations before showcasing them to its members.
By Entrepreneur India •
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The Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N) has announced a partnership with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) to facilitate the creation of a powerful ecosystem for entrepreneurship development in Eastern India. This partnership with IIMCIP furthers I3N's commitment and ability to generate impact in Eastern India.
Commenting on the partnership, Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIMCIP said, "The entrepreneurship ecosystem is still developing in Eastern India and so, it is wonderful to see growing interest of intermediaries and investors. I3N is the largest angel network focusing on social enterprises, and hence, this partnership will give our enterprises access to a large set of relevant investors. Intellecap's virtual incubator StartupWave effectively complements our physical incubator as well, and will allow us to greatly expand our mentoring footprint."
Founded in 2012, I3N is the largest angel network facilitating investments into early stage for-profit enterprises in the sectors of agriculture, clean energy, education, financial services, healthcare, and water and sanitation. I3N sources and screens enterprises, and provides them with extensive consultations before showcasing them to its members.
Sohil Shah, who leads enterprise sourcing and screening for I3N, adds further, "Investors often shy away from investing in Eastern India because of the distance from investor hubs like Mumbai and Delhi, the difficult terrain, and perception of political instability in some states. IIM Calcutta is at the forefront of building innovative solutions in Eastern India, and our partnership with them will enable us to have a strong on-ground liaison increasing investor confidence. We are also excited to serve on the Jury of IIMCIP's business plan competitions – the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge (TSEC) and Idea to Implementation (i2i) – and will be showcasing finalists from these competitions to our angel network, which now has over 85 investors."
With over 85 members and 12 investments, I3N is an initiative of Intellecap, which provides innovative business solutions to profitable and sustainable enterprises dedicated to social and environmental change. Having databases of over 2,200 enterprises across India, I3N has showcased several enterprises headquartered in Eastern India to its angel investors– such as iKure in the primary healthcare space, Drinkwell in clean drinking water space, and Parvata Foods focused on providing market linkages to organic farmers in Sikkim.
I3N has also partnered with Calcutta Angels to further mobilize domestic capital into impact enterprises. Together they have invested in iKure and crowdfunding platform Ketto.
