“Angel Investor” Amit Patel Took ₹2 Lakh Advance From Us, Kept Our Confidential Data & Ghosted Us. Here's a cautionary tale for all startup founders in India.

In July–August 2025, Amit Patel (Full Name, Amit Jayantibhai Patel, Founder of Wefly Indoor Skydiving LLP) represented to us that he was an Investment Banker and Angel Investor who could facilitate funding for our startup. All he asked for was a small upfront advance of ₹2,00,000 to pay the CA/lawyers for our due diligence (this seemed reasonable at the time).

We transferred the amount to his bank account in good faith and handed over our sensitive company documents and information for the supposed "due diligence".

What followed: no proposals, no investor introductions, and progressively sparse communication.

On 28th January 2026 we sent a formal email demanding refund + confirmation that our data had been deleted. He ignored it. Below are reasons he cited, in his own written messages, for the ongoing delays:

\- "My CA's mother is hospitalised."

\- "My CA's mother passed away."

\- “I am in the US because I have cancer.”

\- “I’m trapped in the US because of the War”.

\- "My father passed away".

Here are the receipts of what happened (in brief).

1) 20th April 2025 : He's approached by us.

He's approached by us.

2) Some back-and-forth happens for the next couple of months.

3) The offer.

The offer

4) We reach a common ground on the terms, and he makes the demand of advance fee before initiating the paperwork and due diligence.

The pre-due-diligence demand.

5) Both instalments of ₹1,00,000 were sent to him.

First instalment

Second Instalment

6) Attaching the communications from this point onwards that, in our view, are inconsistent with the conduct we expected from him.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

This is after we sent him an official legal notice. He committed to initiating the refund once back in India on 20th March 2026, citing medical reasons for his absence.

After we sent him a legal notice.

This is when he failed to refund us even after 20th March.

Another excuse!

And once he supposedly came back to India.

And...yet another excuse!

It is 7th May now. And he's honoured none of his promises to refund. After we informed him that we intended to share our experience publicly, he responded citing the passing of his father.

If you have had a similar experience with Mr. Patel - particularly if you advanced funds and did not receive the agreed deliverables, please DM me. We’re already pursuing legal remedies against this individual and would appreciate any more insight we can get.

Quick advice from someone who learned the expensive way:

\- Never pay large “facilitation advances” to individuals claiming to facilitate your startup's funding.

\- Always use proper milestone-based agreements or escrow.

\- It is extremely tempting to pay a fee to someone who's promising to facilitate a large amount of seed money for you. I know its hard to survive as a co-founder and startup and desperation can creep in once such offers are made (it certainly did for us). You have to be extremely careful.

The Indian startup ecosystem is tough and sometimes toxic enough as it is. We don't need individuals misrepresenting themselves as investors or investment bankers.

If this post saves even one founder from losing money or leaking sensitive data, it was worth posting.

PS: Every claim above is supported by bank records, written messages, and documents in our possession. Will keep updating this post with any new developments. I have hidden all personal info except for the name of this individual and his company as per this subreddit's norms.

His public LinkedIn profile, for independent verification: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amit-patel-121027a/