BSE has come up with BSE Startup Platform. Startups fulfilling the criteria for listing can actually go for an IPO on the BSE Startup Platform. The company should be registered as a startup with MSME / DIPP and should have paid-up capital of minimum INR 1 Crore. The company needs to be in existence for a period of 2 years. The net worth should be positive. A full list of criteria is available on the BSE website.

Yes. Large funds at times buy out existing investors in the company (secondary) and at the same time also infuse capital in the business (primary). Typically angels get an exit during Series B or subsequent rounds. The incoming investors can do a mix of primary infusion and give an exit to some of the existing shareholders such as the angels.

The company board takes a call on such matters. However, large shareholders have VETO over important matters such as exit. Hence investors definitely have a say in which option to go for.

An SME exchange is a dedicated exchange for Small and Medium Enterprises. In India, both BSE and NSE have SME Exchanges. SEBI registered Merchant Banker is the prime entity that helps companies go for SME IPOs. A full list is available on SEBI website.

At the end, if there is no exit - not even through buyback then the investors have no other choice but to write-off the investment.

At times, shareholders of a target company are given shares of the acquiring company. Acquisitions can also happen with a mix of cash and stock. Example - US$19 bn acquisition of Whatsapp by Facebook happened by giving US$4 bn cash + US$ 12 bn in Facebook shares + US$ 3bn in stock for employee retention. Hence the cash component in this acquisition was only US$ 4bn and the rest was mostly stock. (Source: techcrunch.com)

"Acquihire is when a company buys out another venture primarily for the skills of the people employed in the venture and not so much for the product or the customers. Most of the companies that are acquihired have founders in their 20s who are talented and are building a technology product. Some examples include: Flipkart acquihired Mallas Inc. - a digital media distribution firm ; Practo acquihired product outsourcing firm Genii ; HolidayIQ acquihired SourceN CommonFloor acquihired messaging startup Bakfy"

It is very difficult to put a number. Every investor has a different expectation. However private investments are categorized as one of the highest risk asset classes and hence the return expectation is much above the market returns.

Investment Bankers appointed for exit calculate a range based on the various methods such as Transaction Comparable, Trading Comparable, DCF, etc. It then boils down to discussions with potential buyers and valuation is discovered basis negotiations.