Guest editorial

Since the time the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, coined the popular “Start-up India, Stand-up India” slogan in his Independence Day address on 15 August 2015 (Business Standard, 2015), there has been a significant policy impetus to encourage start-ups and develop a supportive ecosystem for start-ups and innovation in India. Based on an analysis of 732 angel investments made by 405 investors during 2014–2018, the author finds that angels with more industry-specific experience made a higher proportion of investment in seed-stage ventures. The mapping of connections between the key entities in the ecosystem, start-ups, angels, investors, incubators, founders and the availability of multiple data categories – incorporation, business, finance, technology and demographic gives ample scope for studying interesting research questions.