Softbank News: SoftBank’s Vikas Agnihotri to head IAMAI committee to address VC issues

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed a venture capital (VC) committee to work on public policy consultations, stakeholder engagement, ecosystem enhancement, and building a strong industry network for VC firms.

“It will also play an essential role in highlighting sector-specific challenges faced by portfolio companies of the VC firms,” IAMAI said in a release.

The committee will be a bi-partisan group drawing nearly half its members from the Indian VC community. Sequoia India, SoftBank, Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Indian Angel Network, 3one4 Capital, Eximius, and other domestic and international venture funds, have joined the committee as members.

Vikas Agnihotri, operating partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers, will chair the committee and Shweta Rajpal Kohli, chief public policy officer, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, will be the co-chair.

Over the past decade, India’s startup ecosystem has undergone a significant transformation. According to the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency (Invest India), the country has the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, with 69,000 start-ups, of which 100 are unicorns.

“An important catalyst for this transformation is the rising flow of VC and private equity funding into Indian startups. As per IVCA-EY PE/VC Agenda India Trend Book 2022, private equity and VC funds invested $77.1 billion in Indian companies in 2021 – a 62% jump over the previous year,” the release added.

According to the committee, the increasing support from VC firms to Indian startups makes it imperative to highlight the issues faced by these firms at appropriate forums, something the committee aims to achieve.

“The formation of this committee is a crucial step towards furthering the government’s vision of turning India into an attractive investment destination for VC and PE firms and building a world-class startup ecosystem. We look forward to working with stakeholders for making good corporate governance a key priority for the sector,” said Sequoia’s Kohli.

Some of the issues the committee will take up are a direct foreign listing of Indian startups, clarification on Gift tax, taxation on ESOPs, angel fund structure, and GIFT City regulations, among others.

“We will work with all stakeholders in building a robust and transparent framework for investors who are betting on India’s accelerating digital GDP. VC and PE firms are backing the high-velocity companies in job creation, capex spending, and revving up the overall market buoyancy,” said SoftBank’s Agnihotri.

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