Accredited Investor

An investor that SEBI treats as experienced enough to take more risk, certified by an accreditation agency set up by NSE, BSE or CDSL. An individual qualifies on income and net worth tests, for example a net worth of at least ₹7.5 crore with at least half of it in financial assets.

Why it matters

Since SEBI's September 2025 changes, angel funds may take money only from accredited investors, so angels who invest through a syndicate increasingly need the certificate. For a founder it decides who can come into a round through those vehicles.

For example

An angel who has backed startups through a syndicate for years gets an accreditation certificate so she can keep investing through the platform's angel fund.

Go deeper

Angel Fund Registration in India: The Revised SEBI Framework Treelife · guide An explainer of SEBI's revised angel fund rules that sets out who qualifies as an accredited investor and how accreditation works. It gives 8 September 2026 as the deadline for existing funds; SEBI later extended that to 31 March 2027. Open treelife.in →

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