Ketto Online Ventures Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai based online crowd-funding platform, has raised angel investment of Rs 77 lakh from Club ah!, a network of investors and part of ah! Ventures, and not-for-profit angel network Calcutta Angels. Investors from ah! Impact, the impact investing arm of ah! Ventures, also participated in the deal. The funds will be used for product and business development, as well as for marketing.
A crowd funding platform for creative and social causes, Ketto connects individuals and brands with fundraisers, enabling entrepreneurs to raise funding. Its site also helps non-profit organisations to raise funds for supported and listed causes by connecting them with companies and individuals. The startup was founded in October last year by the trio of Varun Sheth, Kunal Kapoor and Zaheer Adenwala. While Sheth is an alumnus of Narsee Monjee college, Kapoor is a Bollywood actor. Adenwala holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia (the US), and earlier worked at Directi.
The company aims to increase engagement and participation among NGOs, its supporters and corporates to raise funds, while bringing down the cost of doing the same. It claims to be getting over 15,000 unique investors on its platform per month.
In October last year, members of Club ah! had invested Rs 1 crore in Chennai-based educational technology startup Harness Handitouch Pvt Ltd.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)