Orios Venture Partners proudly announces the successful return of 1X of Fund I to its investors. Established in 2014, with a final close at Rs. 300 crores in 2015, Fund I strategically invested in 18 companies, primarily focusing on health-tech, consumer-tech, and e-commerce. The venture capital firm is now poised to strengthen its standing with anticipated significant returns in 2024 and 2025.
Rehan Yar Khan, Managing Partner, expressed, “Early-stage funds are a long journey as they grow along with the companies they invest in. During the journey, they also see ups and downs as some portfolio companies grow and others falter. However, the rewards of that patience are gratifying. We are glad to have returned 1x of the fund, which means the corpus invested with us is back with investors and now the upside remains. With several good companies in our portfolio, we hope to be able to deliver strongly on the upside.”
The return journey for Fund I, a testament to Orios Venture Partners’ perseverance, took longer than planned due to the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath on financial markets and company sales in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Rehan Yar Khan added, “This was a double whammy as the VC industry was nascent and had not completed one full return cycle. Hopefully, such black swan events will not repeat in our lifetime, and from hereon, for us and the VC industry, the returns cycle should be fairly smooth.”
Fund I strategically allocated its resources with a primary focus on Marketplaces, leading at 27.07%, followed by D2C at 17.7%, and HealthTech at 14.45%. Noteworthy portfolio companies that emerged from the fund include Country Delight, Pharmeasy, Intelligence Node, and Zostel. The fund played a pivotal early investment role in each of these ventures, contributing to their growth and success.
Looking ahead, Orios Venture Partners envisions the continued robust growth of the India tech opportunity. Rehan Yar Khan highlights, “We are now investing from our fourth fund, and looking back to Fund I, we can see that the opportunity for startups has grown manyfold. Tech has reached across India and into the hinterland; it has gone beyond consumer internet to B2B, SaaS, EVs, Climatetech, and to hardware. The stock market has become very large, becoming the 4th largest in the world, which is good for tech IPOs. We are excited that we and several peer funds have begun their fund return cycles; the money flowing back will give investors the confidence to invest in larger VC funds, which, in turn, will take advantage of the exciting India opportunity. This is the start of a long virtuous cycle.”
Orios Venture Partners’ successful return on Fund I marks a significant milestone, setting the stage for further achievements and contributions to the thriving Indian startup ecosystem. As they continue to navigate the evolving landscape, the firm remains committed to supporting innovative ventures that redefine the tech and entrepreneurial landscape in India.
