Intellecap, an Indian social sector advisory firm, has launched I-cube N (Intellecap, Impact Investor Network), a platform for HNWIs and corporate houses keen to invest in social enterprises. The initiative was announced during a two-day forum held in Mumbai and the event witnessed over 800 attendees.
Intellecap serves corporate houses, non-profits, development agencies and governments working in developing markets. The firm also facilitates investments, provide consulting services and builds information focused on scalable and sustainable development initiatives, both in India and globally.
Said Anurag Agrawal, co-founder and senior vice-president (investment banking) of Intellecap, “In the first phase of the initiative, we will try to bring on board 15-20 committed investors who have the capacity to invest $1-2 million. The kind of transaction we are expecting during series A and series B funding will be in the range of $2-3 million. Also, we are expecting 5-6 transactions a year. It will be typically an investment banking transaction, especially in sectors like agriculture, clean energy, education, healthcare, financial inclusion (without microfinance),” said Agrawal.
For this initiative, Intellecap has already partnered with a few investment firms like Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange and UK-based Shell Foundation. “We are going to make several pitches to investors and organisations like the Indian Angel Network and the Tonic Group (it operates in the USA and Europe) have already expressed their interest,” said Agrawal.
Intellecap will engage with these companies, not only till the time of transaction closure, but also post-investment and will work closely with these social enterprises to help them scale up and finally exit.
“We believe there is both interest and appetite among HNI and corporate in India for investing in socially relevant businesses. This platform will enable them to evaluate high quality pre-screened early stage companies for investments,” said Agrawal.
According to Agrawal, the platform intends to do more than just mobilising money in this sector, since the social enterprise space is very recent in India and there is no platform to showcase these enterprises. “This platform is a way to bring together people who are interested in this space. It creates a whole ecosystem between investors and many companies,” said Agrawal.