The NAN had been started with the sole initiative of helping start-ups in tier-II cities such as Madurai and Tiruchi and promoting entrepreneurship, its executive chairman Nagaraja Prakasam, also an investor, said here.
Executive chairman of NAN, Nagaraja Prakasam said, “The startup ecosystem is gaining prominence in many parts of India and many angel networks and capitalists are coming forward to support. But most of the big investors concentrate on big cities like Chennai and Bangalore.” He added that NAN was started with the sole initiative to help entrepreneurs in smaller cities like Madurai and Trichy.
A new forum aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship and supporting and nurturing start-ups in Tiruchi has been launched.
The forum christened, Native Angels Network (NAN), would support innovations and inventions and help budding entrepreneurs in launching the start-ups in Tiruchi for the development of the local region.
Tiruchi is the second city in the State where the Angels Network has started its chapter after launching it in Madurai in October last year. The Angels Network is a not-for-profit initiative aimed at bringing together investors and start-ups in the region to enhance entrepreneurship,
The NAN had been started with the sole initiative of helping start-ups in tier-II cities such as Madurai and Tiruchi and promoting entrepreneurship, its executive chairman Nagaraja Prakasam, also an investor, said here. The NAN is an investment offshoot of Nativelead Foundation, a Madurai-based non-profit organisation promoting innovation-based new age entrepreneurship.
In its effort to promote entrepreneurship, the Tiruchi-chapter of the NAN would visit colleges and higher educational institutions in Tiruchi to explain about the network and its goal besides holdings sessions by inviting prominent business personalities of the city. NAN would also provide mentoring support by hand-holding with the young entrepreneurs, Mr. Prakasam said. The Madurai chapter of the NAN had brought in 60 potential investors with an investment assurance of Rs. 1 crore in the last six months, said R. Sivarajah, founder director of Nativelead Foundation.
TRICHY: A group of industrialists here have tied up with Native Angels Network, which aims at nurturing budding entrepreneurs in tier II and tier III cities. The network will act as a bridge between investors and entrepreneurs in the city. So far, the network has identified 12 potential investors, who have made an investment of Rs 50 lakh.
Native Angels Network (NAN) was launched on Thursday in the city with 12 investors making an investment of Rs 50 lakh into ‘Happy Hens’, a four-year-old startup that focuses on organic way of rearing poultry, founded by two students, Ashok and M Manjunath.
The young entrepreneurs are hopeful that the initiative will breakeven by the end of this year. The Trichy chapter of NAN will be led by N Sukumar, founder of Acoustics India that has its headquarters in Trichy.
Executive chairman of NAN, Nagaraja Prakasam said, “The startup ecosystem is gaining prominence in many parts of India and many angel networks and capitalists are coming forward to support. But most of the big investors concentrate on big cities like Chennai and Bangalore.” He added that NAN was started with the sole initiative to help entrepreneurs in smaller cities like Madurai and Trichy.
This is NAN’s second chapter in the state after its success in Madurai last year. R Sivarajah, founder director of Native Lead foundation, said the Madurai chapter of NAN managed to attract 60 potential investors with an assurance of Rs 1 crore in the last six months.
The investment network also proposes to enhance its membership to 100 by the end of the financial year. “There are immense potential among students from tier I and tier II cities. They need to be supported with proper guidance through the network”, said Sivarajah.
