Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal to invest up to $5m in startups via new fund

Oyo founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal has set up a new VC firm to invest in growth-stage businesses in the consumer, technology, and leisure infrastructure sectors.

OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal / Photo credit: OYO

His company, called Aroa Ventures, will focus on startups with proven unit economics, a year-on-year growth rate of 20%, and US$1 million to US$10 million in annual revenue, according to its website. The VC firm looks to invest between US$500,000 and US$5 million into each startup that meets the criteria.

“We believe that the long-term environment will always be favorable for making value-added investments in companies with proven unit economics and high potential to scale,” the company said.

In addition to funding, Aroa Ventures also aims to seek partnerships with entrepreneurs to help build long-lasting businesses and connect them to its network. Its team will work alongside portfolio companies to expedite their growth and help them generate larger returns.

Acting as the head of Aroa Ventures is Gaurav Gulati, who helped found Innov8 Coworking and acted as its chief operating officer. The SoftBank-backed Oyo acquired Innov8 last year for roughly US$30 million. Prior to that, Gulati had co-founded Purist Meals, which was then acquired by fitness and well-being startup Cure.Fit.

Tech in Asia has reached out to Aroa Ventures for further details.

The development was first reported by Entrackr, citing filings. It said that Aroa Ventures was registered last year with Agarwal and Thomas Hufnagel, a partner at the law firm that handled the registration, as the company’s two shareholders.

Aroa Ventures is sponsored by Agarwal’s RACo Holding Company, with Agarwal controlling 100% stake in the investment firm, the report said.