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After dabbling as an entrepreneur with Flora2000 and being an angel investor to some start-ups, Rehan Yar Khan started an early stage fund, Orios Venture Partners focusing on software and technology enabled startups. Initially, Orios raised INR 300 crore as “Fund I’ and he raised INR 500 crore for Fund II. An investor from the last 10 years, Khan feels that there is a shortage of funds even in today’s environment. “My observation is that the amount of funding has gone up significantly if you compare it with 10 years ago, I would say it’s hundred times larger. The quantum of money which is now available in India would continue rising,” states Khan.
While selecting the start-ups, Khan believes that the entrepreneur and his business model is equally important. After doing 20 odd investments in companies like Ola, Druva, Yumist and Pretty Secrets, Khan believes that the early stage investment formula has worked well. As large amount seed funding is the speciality, the ticket size in early stage is between INR 6 crore to INR 12 crore. Talking about his vision for the fund, he says, “In last 20-25 years, a large institution has been created on the debt side. Now you will get to see large institutions created on equity side.”
(This article was first published in the May issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)
