Investors FAQs

IPV is an angel investing platform with 7,700+ CXOs, HNIs, Premier Institution Alumni and Professionals investing in start-ups and supporting founders with experiential capital to accelerate growth. IPV is one of India’s largest and fastest growing angel investment platforms.

IPV has screened over 9,900 start-ups, of which 594 have been presented to the members and invested in 160 start-ups, exited 10, 12 partial exits and made 33 follow-on investments as of March 31, 2023.

Our investment philosophy
It is our objective to showcase those start-up investment which are great businesses, run by great founders, raising funds at reasonable valuations. These parameters are scorecard prepared for every opportunity presented to members for investment commitment. The opportunities are agnostic to stage of funds raise, quantum of raise and sector in which the start-up operates.

As a further elaboration of point number 1, the USP and related advantages are laid out below:

• Diverse network of 7,700+ distinguished CXOs, HNIs, Premier institution alumni & senior professionals, spanning across various geographies, industries and areas of expertise, that are available real time to evaluate any given startup (e.g. Due diligence, Funding, Business Knowledge, Mentoring and solving various other problems).
• Low cost to be a part of the network, given distributed nature, which would be almost half of any other significant angel group.
• Higher chances of success, as the evaluation is done by experts in the fields of business, investing as well as functional area. Whilst 90% of the startups fail, per many market reports, IPV has always maintained the failure rate below 25%. As of April 01, 2023 only ~11% of IPV’s portfolio, by value, have failed.
• Ability to start investing with smaller sums as the funding is pooled by the group, still making it meaningful for a given startup.
• Ability to help the startup grow and take them to the next level by providing them additional access to customers, guidance and mentorship along with funding. All invested members / shareholders are collectively responsible to monitor the investment and provide inputs to the founder as required, through the Startup investor partnership (SIP) calls or LetsGrow program.
• Ability to refer startups that are already known to this forums’ members, and giving them an opportunity to do a proprietary deal.

Startup investing is risky. To minimize the risks, we need a clear investment approach. We propose using a set of established investing principles based on extensive literature. IPV is a platform that connects investors and founders, and it adds an extra layer of due diligence through IPV and its associates, including input from the investor community.

These principles will be included in evaluation sheets (scorecard and valuation summary) prepared by IPV analysts for investors. It’s important to note that IPV does not provide specific recommendations for investing or not investing in a startup. The documents reflect the analysis and confidence of the respective Lead/Co-Lead/experts. They consider the startup’s past financial performance, future projections, and estimates shared by the startup.

It caters to a diverse group of investors, by providing opportunities to invest through its various initiatives:

• Main Bhi Angel (MBA): An initiative to break the notion that startup investing is only for folks with deep pockets. It provides an avenue to start exploring this asset class in one’s portfolio with a ticket size as low as INR 1 Lakh.* It also allows a new investor to start with a small investment, while still making a meaningful value proposition for the startup with combined funding from various members.
• Premier Program: To provide enhanced flexibility to investors who due to travel, work commitments or time-zone constraints are unable to fill the commitment form, the Premier program* has been curated. This program enhances access to a wider array of startups to be brought to the IPV platform.

*For more info, please reach out to your respective RMs.

Investors can choose to invest via any of the two methods below:

• Direct: Any member can invest directly with the startup and will hold shares directly. The transaction, terms and conditions would be directly between the member and the startup (with guidance from the core leadership team of IPV), example: Standard Term sheet, Valuation, Evaluation Sheets etc. However, there are certain restrictions with this method. There can be only 200 investors on the captable and many times startups already have a large number of investors onboard. Direct captable entry is cumbersome for NRIs with RBI compliances on FCGRP filings, which is dependent on the expertise the founder may have. Exit process also becomes tedious, depending on investors complying to timelines.
• AIF: To address the limitations arising out of the direct investment structure and making it a smoother experience, IPV introduced CAT-I Angel Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), which is governed by SEBI. The trust is named FirstPort Capital, which is a pooled vehicle to collect funds from investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing in start-ups through an investment scheme. Investors will be allotted units in each scheme they invest in. There are certain qualifying criteria, minimum investments and other related regulatory requirements.

As an extension to point number 2, you could evaluate being a part of this forum if you are serious about one or more of the following objectives:

1. Want to learn from peers about how to evaluate startups and investing in general.
2. Want to create wealth through investing in startups.
3. Want to teach and share your knowledge, expertise and experience related to investments with other members of the forum.
4. Want to test your entrepreneurial skills while mentoring and guiding startups in various aspects like solving challenges, scaling up etc.
5. Want to evaluate a startup as an innovative solution provider either for your business or the investors personally.

The idea is to keep the costs as low as possible, while still making the initiative sustainable. Being a professional group, meant for investors who can identify “Value in any given initiative/startup”, the costs would need to be shared among the members as annual membership fee. The fee would include the cost of the analyst, support staff, IT platform/infrastructure as required, hiring consultants etc. and also cover for admin expenses (e.g. meeting expenses).

Currently, the Annual Membership Fee is Rs.24,900 + 18% GST (Rs.29,382) subject to annual revision. We have multi-year plans with discounts available as well. Please get in touch with your RMs to explore these options.

Investment Documentation Fee is 2% of the amount invested in any IPV startup and Investment Exit Documentation Fee is 2 % of the total sales value in any IPV start-up. Fees differ for Premier and Premier plus members. Please reach out to your RMs for further details.

For regular members, under direct investments via the IPV platform there is no carry fees on Exits. For investments under specified class(es) via the AIF (First Port Capital), carry fees on Exits would be applicable as per the relevant class(es) applicable.

You can download the IPV App: http://onelink.to/ymbp8e, a relationship manager will be assigned to you. Alternatively, you can fill up your details on our website https://ipventures.in/contact/. If you know someone as a member of the forum, they can refer you to us as well.

Yes, you can avail the trial membership and the details are given below:

1. You will have access to webinars (held on weekly basis)
2. You will be added to a separate trial members group and not the investors group (paid members group)
3. Paid membership is mandatory to be able to make an investment. Also, any member who is due for renewing his membership in the next 1 month, has to have a valid 12-month membership, before investing in any startup.
4. The trial membership period will last for 30 days. Post that you will need to choose your membership to be able to continue.

Yes, we strongly advise that one gets to understand the basic tenets and principles of Investing. The following books are highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn investing concepts and evaluating startups.

• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel (founder of PayPal)
• Hot Seat: The Startup CEO Guidebook by Dan Shapiro
• Buffett Beyond Value by Prem Jain
• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle
• The Outsiders by William Thorndike
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J
• The Snowball by Alice Schroeder
• Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal
• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups by David Kidder
• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon Lechter

IPV provides the following benefits to its members:

1. Bot Services: IPV has Bot services for its members. Which helps you be independent and seek information, documents, agenda and updates for you deals. There are Bot numbers, one which provides you details of IPV startups. Other gives you updates of your investments in various deals. Your RM can guide you further on this.
2. IPV’s own App: Access information at your fingertips. Details in Annexure: Communication Guidelines in this document.
3. Access to startup pitches and webinars: Given the scope of the activities and keeping in mind the wide geographical spread of our members, we meet virtually via our Startup Saturday Webinars and Wonder Wednesday every week. This would help in saving travel time as well as enable participation of members across various geographies.
4. Access to evaluation reports prepared by IPV’s in-house analyst team.
5. Access to investing in a wide array of startups. We’re sector agnostic.
6. To enable members to track the performance, IPV organizes Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) calls to engage with the founders on a periodic basis. This is available to subscribers only. IPV does not charge management fee and is not responsible to track the progress of investments. Interested members can also volunteer to help the start-up through the LetsGrow program and receive updates directly from founders.
7. Membership Rewards Program: Members can earn points for investing, referring new members, helping startups, providing mentorship time etc. The points can also be redeemed to pay for the annual subscription charges. Details regarding membership rewards program are mentioned in the membership note. For CXO Genie members, you can use your CXO Genie points for ‘IPV membership’ related costs as well.
8. Privileges for Premier, Premier+ members are over and above these privileges. Please contact your RM for further information.

Every year in April, IPV organizes an online event for all its members from across the globe, called as Rendezvous. Every year we have a renowned accomplished individuals at the event to share their own journey. In the past we have had Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Ronnie Screwvala, Rajan Anandan, Shekhar Kapur. In addition, IPV shares its annual performance update, successes and failures, new initiatives and opens the forum for any question you may want to ask.

We also organize regional meets, in three major hubs: Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurgaon as well as key cities like Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Surat, Ahmedabad, to enable networking, to know other fellow investors, meet IPV founders and team.

It is IPV’s philosophy to showcase to its members, investment opportunities in exceptional businesses led by outstanding founders, raising funds at reasonable valuations. A curated list of selection panellists, including industry experts and CXOs, thoroughly evaluate a startup’s proposition before presenting them to members on a founder’s call. It is possible that some popular start-ups presenting on other platforms may not be presented on IPV if they do not meet the selection criteria. On the other hand, there have been start-ups rejected by other platforms but selected and invested in by IPV members, resulting in significant returns. As of now, IPV does not have an anti-portfolio.

The responsibility of selecting start-ups is a collective and collaborative process. IPV is a platform of angel investors, and the selection panel consists of members who are invited based on their level of participation on the platform, including gold and silver tier members, industry experts, CXOs, experienced investors, and volunteers. The selection panel reviews start-up proposals, shares insights, and suggests whether a start-up should be further evaluated or not. It is a democratic process where multiple perspectives are considered to make the final selection decisions.

Any IPV Investor can refer a startup, provided they know the founders personally. Members can refer a startup at: ipventures.in/contact-us/startup/. The founders and the startup will then be reviewed by the selection panel, which will evaluate the given startup on a defined set of evaluation criteria. The startup will need to go through the entire journey of evaluation to be able to raise funds through IPV. IPV is industry agnostic and believes in equal opportunity.

IPV offers multiple unique benefits to startups and the below can be your pitch to them (you can also request funding@ipventures.in for a detailed note that has been prepared, to be sent to the startup):

1. Ability to raise funding from a set of mature and seasoned investors with diverse professional experience in handling businesses.
2. Opportunity to get advice and mentorship from experts in an area they need help in. (e.g. Scaling up, Legal advice, Advice on business operational issues, HR matters, Talent acquisition etc.)
3. Help in early identification and solutioning for potential roadblocks and risks. Opportunity to get best practices from the industry.
4. Opportunity to get CXOs as their retail customers and make them their ambassadors.
5. Opportunity to get corporate/B2B customers as the forum represents various CXOs of businesses across industries.

The pass rate at IPV is low due to the stringent selection criteria in place. IPV aims to invest in start-ups led by great founders who are running excellent businesses and are available at reasonable valuations. The start-ups undergo a thorough diligence process based on the feedback provided by the selection panellists before the founder’s call. Additionally, all members participating in the founder’s call provide their feedback through a feedback report.

Furthermore, IPV has a robust due diligence process led by IPV Partners and Select members. They, along with Co-lead members, independently build their conviction about the start-ups and commit to investing in the ones presented to the members. This independent conviction-building process may result in some popular start-ups not being invested in by IPV. However, it also means that there are instances where IPV invests in start-ups that might have been rejected by other platforms. The low pass rate reflects the rigorous evaluation and selection process aimed at identifying promising start-ups that align with IPV’s investment criteria.

As an IPV member, you may not get to see all deals for several reasons. The IPV selection panel reviews hundreds of start-ups on a weekly basis. This panel consists of IPV team members as well as members invited from the Gold and above tiers. If you hold a Gold or above status and wish to be part of the selection panel, you can express your interest through your RMs. However, it is important to note that the decision to onboard volunteers to the selection panel ultimately rests with IPV, and they have the sole discretion in this matter. Therefore, not being able to see all deals may be due to the limited capacity of the selection panel and the discretion exercised by IPV in determining its composition.

The investment valuation in IPV is determined through a negotiation process between IPV and the founders of the start-up. The specific details and multiples related to the valuation are mentioned in the Valuation Summary, which is provided to the members on the Investment Commitment Call. This document, along with the Scorecard, is shared with the members at least three days prior to the call, allowing them time to review and make an informed decision. Additionally, a Business and Financial Summary is shared 24 hours prior to the call, providing further details to facilitate members in their decision-making process. For further guidance and insights on valuation, members are encouraged to refer to the Masterclass on valuation provided by IPV.

It’s important to note that investors have the right to choose and are responsible for their investment decisions regarding deals presented by IPV. Once investors have made their investment, they cannot hold IPV responsible for the negotiated valuations. If the valuation of a particular deal does not align with their preferences, investors have the option not to invest. Each investing member should apply their own reasonable judgment based on their risk appetite and understanding of the business before making an investment decision.

IPV does not provide a recommendation to invest or not invest in a startup. IPV operates as a platform that connects investors with founders, adding an additional layer of due diligence performed by IPV and its associates, including assistance from the investor community. The documents shared with the members, such as the Valuation Summary, Scorecard, and Business and Financial Summary, represent the analysis and conviction of the respective Lead, Co-Lead, and experts involved in the evaluation process. These documents are based on factors such as past financial performance, future projections, and estimates provided by the start-up.

It is emphasized that each investing member should exercise their own reasonable judgment, considering their risk appetite and individual understanding of the specific business, before making an investment decision. IPV does not provide explicit recommendations but provides information and insights to assist members in their decision-making process. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each investor to evaluate the opportunity and make their own informed investment choices.

Yes, IPV invests in the deals it presents. The lead member is required to invest in every deal they lead, ensuring alignment of interests. The lead member conducts due diligence and forms an independent conviction on the start-up. However, it is up to each investor to decide whether they want to invest or not. Additionally, IPV as a legal entity also has the right to invest in specific opportunities.

IPV provides a platform through its app and WhatsApp groups to facilitate smooth coordination between investors for investment or exit purposes. These channels of communication are set up by IPV to aid collaboration among members. However, IPV is not responsible for any delays in investment or exit decisions made by individual members. It is also not accountable for missed opportunities if a collective majority of members agrees and subscribes to specific events. The platform available to members for communication are:

It is important to note that the provided communication platforms serve as tools for interaction, but the decisions and actions taken by individual members are their own responsibility.

If you are opting to be an individual investor (must have filled the feedback form on the given startup), IPV will connect you to the lead Investor who will co-ordinate information from the founders directly. However, at no point will IPV be held responsible for confidentiality of such information or the custodian of the same. As IPV has not taken the startup forward, it will not be responsible or accountable for managing the investment process.

IPV does not charge a management fee and therefore is not responsible for actively tracking the performance of investments. However, to facilitate performance monitoring, IPV organizes Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) calls on a periodic basis. These calls provide an opportunity for members to engage directly with the founders and gather updates on the start-up’s progress.

In addition, interested members can participate in the LetsGrow program and volunteer to support the start-up. Through this program, members can receive regular updates directly from the founders, allowing them to stay informed about the performance and developments of the invested start-ups.

Whilst periodic compliance and adherence to business plan are part of the SIP updates, which is regularly presented by founders to members, all notices are shared with persons identified and nominated in the Share Subscription and Share Holders Agreements. Furthermore, annual reports are publicly available documents, filed with the MCA, accessible to all for a fee prescribed by the Government.

As investor representatives, through the General Power of Attorney signed by members, the nominee receives all notices. Members who have invested directly on the cap table would also receive the notices. For AIF Investors, the fund manager acts as the representative and receives all notices and documents, the contributors get annual updates on individual asset performance through the unit statement and annual report of the fund. Should the contributors be interested in getting the notices and documents of the startup, IPV can facilitate the same for INR 2,500 (inclusive of taxes). Please get in touch with your RMs to raise the request.

Also, IPV is in the process of setting up mailing lists to disseminate startup wise information with its investors, as received from founders, on a best effort basis. The process will be notified once ready.

A LetsGrow team is nominated to attend the meetings. LetsGrow investor mentors, who have volunteered to help the startup through the LetsGrow program, may also be nominated to attend these meetings. Since IPV does not charge any management fee, IPV is not responsible to track progress or activities of the investments.

No, IPV does not actively monitor the deals and ensure investments don’t fail. However, IPV has maintained a failure rate below 25%, which is significantly lower than the average failure rate of startups reported in the market.

The collective responsibility to monitor investments and provide inputs to the founders lies with all the invested members and shareholders. This monitoring and collaboration can be done through Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) calls or the LetsGrow program. IPV does not charge a management fee and is not accountable for tracking the progress of investments.

To facilitate member tracking of performance, IPV organizes SIP calls, which allow members to engage with founders on a periodic basis. These calls provide an opportunity to stay updated on the startup’s progress.

IPV believes in investing not only monetary resources but also experience and connections to help startups grow. They have witnessed the positive impact of investor engagement in companies such as Otipy, Fitso, MilkBasket, Toch, and others, where greater investor involvement has contributed to faster and higher growth.

To reduce failure rates, IPV encourages interested members to participate more deeply with the founders through the LetsGrow program. This program allows members to provide assistance on specific topics identified or requested by the business. For more details, members can refer to the LetsGrow FAQs.

No, IPV does not sit on the board of all companies. In most cases, IPV has the right to exercise a board seat or board observer seat but chooses to do so only in a few instances. This may occur when specifically requested by the company or in cases of emergency intervention. Additionally, IPV members may also be invited to sit on the board as representatives.

No, IPV is not responsible for ensuring the performance of all start-ups. It’s important to note that most startups fail, and investments are individual decisions made by investors on a deal-by-deal basis. Unlike a venture capital fund, IPV does not have the ability to guarantee performance across all start-ups. This is why IPV does not charge management fees, as it does not assume responsibility for monitoring performance.

To maintain consistency and quality, IPV designates a few members as lead members for deals. However, all members are encouraged to provide feedback during due diligence, identify themselves as subject matter experts (SMEs) to offer deeper insights and guidance, co-lead deals, and ask questions before the investment commitment call. The lead members and analysts are available to address any queries, making due diligence a collective process.

It’s crucial to acknowledge that all investments are subject to market risks, particularly in angel investing, which is characterized by high risk and potential high rewards.

Furthermore, the responsibility of running the business rests with the founders. As shareholders, IPV can provide suggestions and guidance to facilitate the growth of start-ups. The Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) and LetsGrow programs are available to enable investors to actively contribute and offer guidance to start-ups.

Yes, you will receive updates on your portfolio only on the respective SIP calls. Whilst you will receive the SIP call invites and can participate in the same, letsgrow access, historical data access (whatsapp chats and documents) would be restricted. The updates will be shared live on SIP calls. Furthermore, there would be a higher fee charged on exit from the invested startups.

We will be launching “IPV Recharge”, where a member who wishes not to renew the membership going forward but has invested in startups would for a nominal fee, get all updates through App and BOT related to your investments and other announcements available to any IPV Paid Member. However, you would not be assigned a dedicated relationship manager; but you can raise a query on the app, which would be resolved in 3-5 days.

Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) calls are scheduled on a periodic basis to faciliate investors and founders to interact, present updates, seek clarity on growth and progress of business plans, provide insights into market and competition, collaborate to achieve value creation projects and most importantly guide the founder to achieve his business plan ambitions. We have observed that more the participation from investors on these calls, the better the growth of the startup.

Furthermore, these calls are not questioning sessions, but collaboration sessions, where investors are expected to guide the founders and nudge them in the right direction.

These calls are typically help on a quarterly basis for each startup, with the time and schedule confirmed in advance and calendars blocked. However, if an exit opportunity has been presented to investors, the periodicity of SIP calls shifts to once in six months and where more than one exit opportunity has been presented, the periodicity shifts to once in twelve months. This is considering the size of the startup, growth achieved, support investors are able to provide and overall holding in the startup.

The deck presented on SIP calls is shared, on a best effort basis, prior to the call, uploaded on the app and shared in advance with LetsGrow mentors. The calls are moderated by LetsGrow Lead Mentors or IPV LetsGrow SPOCs.

IPV supports the growth of start-ups through various initiatives. In addition to the SIP (Startup Investor Partnership) and LetsGrow programs, IPV organizes regular VC Connect events. These events provide opportunities for founders to present their propositions to the broader VC community, fostering connections and potential investment opportunities.

Furthermore, IPV showcases a curated list of start-ups to large corporates. This exposure can lead to potential partnerships, investments, or even acquisitions, as corporates may have an interest in collaborating with the portfolio companies for various reasons.

These efforts by IPV aim to facilitate the growth and development of start-ups by connecting them with relevant stakeholders, including venture capitalists and corporates, who can contribute to their success.

Yes, IPV helps start-ups raise subsequent rounds of funds by providing insights, connections, and guidance. IPV leverages its extensive investment banker network and the VC ecosystem to offer valuable advice to founders considering additional funding. They also connect founders with various sources of funds, including venture capitalists, bankers, and other potential investors, to support their business plans and fundraising efforts.

Yes, IPV provides sectoral views through its members, who are subject matter experts (SMEs), CXOs, and experienced investors. These members periodically offer industry insights and share relevant literature for the benefit of the platform and founders. IPV Partners also engage in discussions with other VCs and industry veterans to stay informed about market dynamics and trends. These insights are valuable when evaluating start-ups and negotiating valuations.

However, it’s important to note that IPV does not recommend or insist on investing in a particular sector. Investment decisions are solely made by the individual members based on the facts presented by the deal teams.

No, the IPV team does not guarantee or ensure that all investments will provide good returns. While the team assists members with administrative coordination, such as monitoring commitments, coordinating term sheets, obtaining approvals on Shareholders’ Agreements (SHA), and arranging periodic monitoring calls, the actual returns on investments are influenced by various factors. These factors include market conditions, deal structure, macroeconomics, and, most importantly, the founder’s ability to negotiate valuations for future rounds of investment.

IPV actively seeks exit opportunities, but actual exits depend on market conditions and deal structure, impacting timing and returns. IPV coordinates with founders to facilitate exits at regular intervals, but there is no guarantee due to external factors. Members are solely responsible for the decision to exit and providing necessary documentation. Delays in complying with exit requirements can affect the process for all investors involved. Regular cash flows and successful exits are influenced by external factors beyond IPV’s control.

No, IPV will not advise when or whether to exit. The decision to exit is solely up to the members. IPV will present the current facts, including the performance of the investment, market conditions, macroeconomic factors, and market dynamics for members to consider in their decision-making process.

In the event of an opportunity for a full exit from a startup, the decision will be made based on the majority view of IPV investors, determined by the value of their investments.

No, you would not be forced to exit your investment if IPV chooses to exit. IPV does not prevent investors from selling their holdings to any buyer of their choice. Similarly, IPV also has the right to independently exercise its decision to exit and sell its holdings to any buyer identified by IPV at any point.

In the event of an opportunity for a full exit from a startup, the decision will be made based on the majority view of IPV investors, determined by the value of their investments.

If you choose not to renew your membership, exit opportunities would differ in the below mentioned scenarios:

• Fund Exit: In case you are an AIF member and AIF takes an exit (Full or partial), a Proportional exit will be made available to you. If you are invested directly and full exit is made available to other investors, the same will be available to you as well.
• Secondary/Interse Exit: In case you hold units via AIF, (And Where AIF is not selling any shares) and an internal member wants to buy more units or shares. Or if you are a direct shareholder and where New/Existing members or external buyers want to buy partial IPV group holding from existing members as an inter-se purchase or sale, those sale/exit opportunities, being restricted in quantity will be first offered to the investors who are paid IPV members on the date when opportunity arises.

However, if you wish to pause your investment activities, you can opt for an IPV Recharge Membership. With this option, you’ll still have access to secondary and interse exits, while foregoing the access to fresh investments in startups. For more details about IPV Recharge, please reach out to your relationship manager.

IPV provides a platform through the app and WhatsApp groups for smooth coordination between investors for either investment or exit to ensure there are no delays. Whilst IPV sets up these channels of communication, members are free to collaborate on these forums. IPV is not responsible for delays in decisions by members for investment or exit and any opportunity missed by few members on events agreed and subscribed to by a collective majority.

The platform available to members for communication are:

• Investor queries to IPV: Raise a query section on the IPV App, Ask me Anything Zoom Sessions with IPV founders
• IPV communication to Investors: Admin only deal wise WhatsApp groups, BOT, App posting, Emails, RM communications,
• Investor interaction with founders: Start-up Investor Partnership Calls, Deal wise LetsGrow WhatsApp groups
• Investor, IPV, Start-up collaboration: Deal wise LetsGrow WhatsApp groups
• Investor to Investor: Not monitored or managed by IPV. Points related to specific can be discussed on Start-up Investor Partnership Calls.

IPV has its own proprietary App, which is a platform for investors to engage in discussions about the Start-up ecosystem. The app has different sections, main ones are as elaborated below.

Main features with specific purpose:

• Start-ups: This section provides information about start-ups being evaluated for investments, investments in process and IPV portfolio start-ups.
• Agenda: This section provides call schedules for Founder’s calls, Investor calls, SIP calls, AMA sessions and Masterclasses. Users can register via the App, can seek information or post messages specific to the session before or while the session is on. Feedback form links, commitment forms links are released in this section.
• Portfolio: This section provides you information of the deals you have invested in and is visible only to you. Invested, Committed and exited deal information, all three can be seen. Also provides you access to your share certificates.
• Raise a query: This section is for an investor to seek customer support, log an issue or any escalation. It can be used for seeking information as well.
• Refer a member: This section enables members to conveniently refer their family, friends or acquaintances to IPV.
• Discussion Forum: The discussion forum is an open forum for investors to initiate and engage on topics around the start-up ecosystem.

As larger, diverse group of investors join the forum, we are starting to see posts that are self-promoting and/or irrelevant to the platform. Hence we are providing guidelines for this forum.

As a user you can participate and support IPV in keeping the discussion forum clean by reporting spams. Any post not in line with the policy may be reported:

• As a user one can report any post as spam. The IPV team will review and take relevant actions, delete the post if not relevant to the forum.
• If any specific user’s posts are marked as spam on more than 3 different occasions, IPV reserves the right to deactivate the user’s access.

Communication Guidelines

IPV App is a platform created to keep abreast of the start-up ecosystem, for investors to engage in conversations on innovation, new technology, or start-up ecosystem updates.

To ensure sanctity of the forum and focused discussions, users are advised to be aware and engage in discussions responsibly. There are different categories in which we ask user to kindly refrain from posting, and engaging is such conversations posted by others is at the users own risk.

1. 1. Any posts related to startups and its ecosystem is encouraged on the IPV discussion forum. Such as
      1. Budget impact, government policies impacting Start-ups.
      2. Sector specific information and industry trends etc.
      3. Looking for co-founders, CTOs
      4. Seeking advice on fund raising methods
      5. Any other discussions on start-up ecosystem
   2. Following category of posts are disallowed on the IPV App.
      1. Speculation: Posts which are not backed by substantiated data or verified source of truth, is treated as speculation. This includes but not restricted to personal opinions on religious views, politics, unsubstantiated rumours on start-ups/businesses.
      2. Start-ups not backed by IPV:
         • Start-ups/Founders that are seeking funding, to kindly follow protocol and apply on ipventures.in/contact-us/startup/
         • Soliciting funds for businesses- that are not evaluated by IPV. IPV is not responsible for people reaching out and engaging in raising funds that are not evaluated by IPV. While posts will be deleted, users engaging directly may do so at their own risk.
         • Authenticity of the claims of it being a unicorn idea and unsubstantiated claims of returns, is not backed by IPV.
         • Promise of equity for expertise by users has no link to IPV and holds no responsibility towards these claims.
   3. 3. Business promotions: IPV App is for sharing of knowledge, a microlearning platform and for networking. Business promotions and ad campaigns are not allowed. Including consultancy services.
      4. Code of Conduct: Users to understand that this is a professional network, with an opportunity to learn from one another. Indulging in unparliamentary language, creating unrest amongst the investors, misleading the forum, getting into conflicts with fellow investors should be avoided. IPV reserves the right to withdraw access to the App and discontinue with membership.

At IPV, we have stringent selection criteria to invest in great founders, running great businesses, available at reasonable valuations. The Selection Panel screens 100s of start-ups each week and picks out the one with highest conviction. If you would like to raise funds from IPV investors, we invite you to apply through https://ipventures.in/contact/#startup-contact. IPV is not responsible for people reaching out and engaging in raising funds that are not evaluated by IPV.

Similarly, IPV holds no responsibility on start-ups claiming their ideas to be a Unicorn and promises of unsubstantiated returns, promises of equity for expertise or making good of these promises.

It would give us great pleasure to include you in supporting the start-ups growth. There are three ways in which you can sign up for this.

1. 1. • You can fill up the feedback form for the startup of your interest and express that you have the subject matter expertise and would like to contribute. Our team will reach out to you.
      • You can join the Lets Grow group of the start-up you have invested in and support in its growth.
      • You can sign up on Founder’s Genie and get access to a larger Founder base.

This is on voluntary basis and there are no commercial considerations in this. In case the founder finds it feasible

Although IPV App is built for networking, it is primarily to learn and understand the Startup ecosystem. Posting CVs on the discussion forum takes away the focus. You can, however, post it on http://onelink.to/foundersgenie which is visible to a wider network of startups looking to hire candidates.

IPV’s customer service via its raise a query feature on the IPV App https://ipventures.in/app/raiseaquery which will ensure quickest turnaround on your issues. Be it with respect to your documents, information on startups or tech issues. We target a TAT of 48 hours to help serve you in an efficient manner, however, there could be delays because of unavoidable circumstances. Raise a query on the app for any question you may have; IPV shall respond to the queries only if raised on the app. Considering the number of channels, queries raised to IPV on discussion forum cannot be effectively monitored and addressed in time.

For information on invested startups, raise any queries you may have on the business or to the founder on the respective Startup Investor Partnership (SIP) calls help periodically, where the founder provides updates on business performance.

As an investor we have certain responsibilities towards the startups we have invested in. Topmost of those pertains to confidentiality of the startup’s information. The startup’s performance is privy only to its investors and not to public at large.

IPV provides a platform for easy communication between various stakeholder, it is imperative that investors exercise judgement and maintain professionalism in all communications. Volunteer to participate through the LetsGrow program for a particular startup should you wish to deeply engage with the startup and help them grow.

IPV platform is a progressive forward-thinking network of investors focused on startups and its growth. Adding discussions on politics and religion does not serve the purpose of this platform. Such sentiments can be very strong in Indian context, which can lead to unnecessary conflicts. Hence any posts on politics and religion is restricted on the IPV app or investor groups. IPV holds the right to suspend or ban any user account, for severe, ongoing or repeat violations of the platform’s policies and/or code of conduct.