Seed stage Investment Platform Orios raises $30 million to fund its Portfolio Companies
Indian technology Venture fund and a seed-stage investment platform, Orios has raised $30 million in new capital to exclusively back its high-growth, standout portfolio companies.
This is a growing trend among small-cap domestic early venture capital funds.
Orios, through its Select Fund I, has followed in the footsteps of other domestic investors such as Blume Ventures and India Quotient in establishing a “Opportunities Fund” to prevent its shareholding from being diluted as companies raise capital at high valuations in large financing rounds.
“The Limited Partners (LPs) or sponsors for Select Fund I are the same as our previous two funds. Typically, Opportunities Funds have the same investors because they have backed the companies in the portfolio. These are companies we want to double down on. In fact, we have started disbursing the capital already, it is nearly exhausted keeping in mind the super active market,” says Orios Venture Partners founder Rehan Yar Khan.
Orios' last two funds were both Rs 300 crore in size, with investments in companies such as the IPO-bound online pharmacy startup PharmEasy and GoMechanic, a car servicing platform that announced a $42 million funding round led by Tiger Global.
So far, the fund has invested in PharmEasy's Series D and E rounds, Country Delight's Series B and C rounds, and GoMechanic's Series C round.
The firm’s portfolio companies also include gaming company Zupee, agritech company Krishify, digital health company Beato, retail tech company Gully Network, fintech company MoneyOnClick, and EV-battery-as-a-service company Battery Smart.
The latest capital raise comes as seed-stage funds face increased competition from larger venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital's Surge, other VC firms, and Silicon Valley's Y Combinator, which has been breaking records with an increasing number of Indian startups in each batch.
Khan launched his first fund in 2014, following a successful stint as an angel investor in which he selected startups such as ride-hailing company Ola and Software-as-a-Service firm Druva, both of which are now billion-dollar enterprises.
According to Khan, Orios wrote off eight investments from Fund I. One of its big cheques from Fund I went to budget hotel Zo Rooms, which has been in a legal battle with SoftBank-backed Oyo for years.
Orios is now betting on PharmEasy's upcoming IPO, which Khan claims will generate a massive return and rank among the best for a rupee-denominated fund.
“We have a sizable ownership in PharmEasy. The IPO will be a really big outcome for us, a banner moment. We will sell our entire stake. Then there is Country Delight which we would look to liquidate sometime during the end of next year,” he added.
This is a growing trend among small-cap domestic early venture capital funds.
Orios, through its Select Fund I, has followed in the footsteps of other domestic investors such as Blume Ventures and India Quotient in establishing a “Opportunities Fund” to prevent its shareholding from being diluted as companies raise capital at high valuations in large financing rounds.
“The Limited Partners (LPs) or sponsors for Select Fund I are the same as our previous two funds. Typically, Opportunities Funds have the same investors because they have backed the companies in the portfolio. These are companies we want to double down on. In fact, we have started disbursing the capital already, it is nearly exhausted keeping in mind the super active market,” says Orios Venture Partners founder Rehan Yar Khan.
Orios' last two funds were both Rs 300 crore in size, with investments in companies such as the IPO-bound online pharmacy startup PharmEasy and GoMechanic, a car servicing platform that announced a $42 million funding round led by Tiger Global.
So far, the fund has invested in PharmEasy's Series D and E rounds, Country Delight's Series B and C rounds, and GoMechanic's Series C round.
The firm’s portfolio companies also include gaming company Zupee, agritech company Krishify, digital health company Beato, retail tech company Gully Network, fintech company MoneyOnClick, and EV-battery-as-a-service company Battery Smart.
The latest capital raise comes as seed-stage funds face increased competition from larger venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital's Surge, other VC firms, and Silicon Valley's Y Combinator, which has been breaking records with an increasing number of Indian startups in each batch.
Khan launched his first fund in 2014, following a successful stint as an angel investor in which he selected startups such as ride-hailing company Ola and Software-as-a-Service firm Druva, both of which are now billion-dollar enterprises.
According to Khan, Orios wrote off eight investments from Fund I. One of its big cheques from Fund I went to budget hotel Zo Rooms, which has been in a legal battle with SoftBank-backed Oyo for years.
Orios is now betting on PharmEasy's upcoming IPO, which Khan claims will generate a massive return and rank among the best for a rupee-denominated fund.
“We have a sizable ownership in PharmEasy. The IPO will be a really big outcome for us, a banner moment. We will sell our entire stake. Then there is Country Delight which we would look to liquidate sometime during the end of next year,” he added.
