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<ul><li><keyword id="9665088" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aroa-Ventures">Aroa Ventures</keyword> is <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword>’s family office. While Agarwal remains committed to growing <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>, Gaurav Gulati heads ScaleX Partners which manages investments for Aroa.</li><li>In an interview with Business Insider, Gulati gives an overview of their investment strategy.</li><li>The firm has disclosed five of their investments exclusively with Business Insider.</li></ul>In the middle of June last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal and Gaurav Gulati, the co-founder of Innov8, were having a chat about <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> striving during the pandemic and what they could possibly do help entrepreneurs in India. While Agarwal continues to concentrate on his hospitality venture OYO, Gulati took charge by launching ScaleX Partners – after selling his co-working space startup Innov8 to OYO in 2019 – which manages investments for Aroa and other family offices. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Pandemic year was the best time to start investing" comment="subhead" text="Pandemic year was the best time to start investing">Pandemic year was the best time to start investing</cmsannotation> Aroa Ventures, last year, has made several investments with ScaleX as an advisor, claims Gulati. While it did not disclose details about all its investments yet, the company revealed five of its investments, exclusively to Business Insider. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; table-layout: fixed; width: 468pt;"></colgroup></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Startup </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">What they do </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Investment amount </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Stockal </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Investment platform that helps Indians with cross border investment portfolios </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 million </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">SelFin </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Fintech startup that lends working capital to small businesses in India </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">$1 million </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Orange Health </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">On-demand diagnostics lab </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">undisclosed</td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Zingbus </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Online bus ticketing platform </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">undisclosed</td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">FWD Learning </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Skill training platform </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">undisclosed</td></tr></tbody></table> The pandemic provided Gulati and Agarwal an opportunity to invest in businesses at a better price. “For us what was most important was identifying those businesses that may be experiencing a temporary glut in sales. But the fundamentals of the business are strong, they're actually addressing or providing a product or service for which demand exists,” he added. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Stockal" comment="subhead" text="Stockal">Stockal</cmsannotation> The stockbroking industry has been heating up with more and more millennials <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/heres-how-indians-are-buying-tesla-facebook-and-apple-shares-through-brokerage-startups/articleshow/80403004.cms">moving towards</a> investing in the public markets. And the interest has also been towards expanding their investment portfolio to include US stocks. That’s where companies like Stockal come in, which help Indians invest in US stocks as well. Stockal was founded in 2015 and is based out of India and the US. As per Stockal, Indians remitted over $878.8 million (₹5,603 crore) for investments abroad in the fiscal year 2018-19 from $246.9 million (₹1827 crore) in FY15. As of August 2020, the daily transactions at Stockal had gone up from ₹3 crore the year before to ₹10 crore. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="SelFin" comment="subhead" text="SelFin">SelFin</cmsannotation> SelFin, founded in 2016, lends working capital to India’s thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises. A spokesperson for Aroa broke down their investment strategy behind SelFin and said that the demand for debt and equity finance by MSMEs is already estimated to be north of $1 trillion as per estimates by International Finance Corporation. “SelFin is enabling thousands of MSMEs in India to meet their business financial needs and putting the unbanked on the path to become part of the banking system. For instance, consider small garment shops and snack stores in a smaller city like Panipat. They need money during covid. The founding team knows how to help them grow their business. SelFin's loans are also healthy with a very low delinquency score,” said the spokesperson. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Orange Health" comment="subhead" text="Orange Health">Orange Health</cmsannotation> Orange Health operates in the fast growing health tech industry, as an on demand diagnostics lab. Founded in 2020, the startup was also a part of the Y Combinator Summer 2020 batch. “Timely diagnosis and treatment are more crucial than ever – with Orange Health patients can get diagnosed much faster and get better treatment remotely from their own doctor. Small diagnostic centres in India have the massive opportunity to receive an infusion of technology, have the ability to be part of a brand and gain higher revenue growth. A thesis identical to the one behind OYO,” said the Aroa spokesperson. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Zingbus" comment="subhead" text="Zingbus">Zingbus</cmsannotation> Online bus ticketing startup Zingbus falls in the travel and tourism category which also comes of interest to OYO. Founded in 2019, by Prashant Kumar, Mratunjay Beniwal and Ravi Kumar Verma, Zingbus was a part of the Y Combinator Winter 2021 batch. Interestingly, the three of them had earlier built online rental startup TipiHomes in 2015, which they ultimately sold to OYO in 2016. “There are over 300 cities/towns in India with a population greater than 100,000 people. India's growing economy and urbanisation have led to a consistent increase in the demand for intercity travel. Zingbus is using technology to standardise the intercity travel experience by making it safe, reliable, and affordable for the masses. Zingbus is an example of how former OYOpreneurs (term used for OYO employees) are building top companies and we want to support them,” said the Aroa spokesperson. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="FWD Learning" comment="subhead" text="FWD Learning">FWD Learning</cmsannotation> Operating in the booming edtech space, FWD Learning helps people with industry-ready skills and also connects them with mentors and experts in the market. “As per the eighth edition of the India Skills Report (ISR) -- less than half of the Indian graduates are employable. FWD Learning is an innovative tech enabled platform which will help increase employability of individuals entering the workforce as well as allow professionals to remain relevant and ready with industry-ready skill courses,” said the spokesperson about the investment. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="What else are Agarwal and Gulati looking to invest in?" comment="subhead" text="What else are Agarwal and Gulati looking to invest in?">What else are Agarwal and Gulati looking to invest in?</cmsannotation> While there have been media reports about the fund size being ₹100 crore, Gulati insists that the fund doesn’t have an earmarked number for investments, but instead will have a rolling fund. “In the months and years to come, there'll be other pools of capital. There will be other sources of capital potentially, as well, that will come into play,” he said. The idea behind its investments is to help early-stage startups, along with seed-level and series A investments. The firm hopes that its investments in late stage companies will be a revenue-making opportunity by betting on companies that have already been delivering growth. But a lot of its investments will not be where they have a ‘pure play financial role’, instead it hopes to handhold startups in their journey of growth. And without delving into further details, Gulati said they aren’t taking the usual route of weeks of due diligence, but aiming at faster rollout of cheques to entrepreneurs. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/pine-labs-reportedly-joins-the-long-list-of-indian-tech-startups-heading/articleshow/81760763.cms">Pine Labs reportedly joins the long list of Indian tech startups heading for an IPO</a>

EXCLUSIVE: Inside Ritesh Agarwal’s family office and its early investments

<ul><li>OYO founder <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> has floated a new fund called <keyword id="9665088" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aroa-Ventures">Aroa Ventures</keyword>.</li><li>Aroa Ventures will bet on companies that have proven-unit economics with annual revenue of $1-10 million and a growth rate of 20% year-on-year.</li><li>Agarwal joins the bandwagon of founder-turned-investor in the Indian startup ecosystem</li></ul>OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal has floated a new fund called <a href="https://entrackr.com/2020/07/oyo-ritesh-agarwal-floats-aroa-ventures/?utm_campaign=fullarticle&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=inshorts">Aroa Ventures</a>. The Singapore-based fund will bet on early growth-stage startups, and is backed by RACO Holding company, a new company floated by Agarwal; and he holds 100% of the shares, according to Entrackr. The fund is headed by Gaurav Gulati, the former Chief Operating Officer of Innov8, which was acquired by OYO in 2019. There has been no official announcement on the fund yet. Here’s what Agarwal is looking for According to the company website, Aroa Ventures is looking to make ‘value-add’ investments in companies that have proven-unit economics with annual revenue of $1-10 million and a growth rate of 20% year-on-year. The fund will focus on sectors like consumer, technology, and leisure infrastructure. The ticket size ranges between $500,000 to $5 million. The founders-turned-investors tribe Agarwal is the latest entrant from the Indian startup ecosystem to join the growing list of founders-turned-investors. Agarwal’s peers like Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal of Snapdeal have launched their funding firms. Sharma is also an active angel investor with over 20 investments. Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal had both individually launched their own funds. After his exit from Flipkart, and before floating his own company Navi Technologies, Sachin had dabbled in the investment space and has placed bets in companies like Ola, Ather Energy. Meanwhile, Binny is known to have set up his VC fund called ‘021 Capital’ along with Sailesh Tulshan, his financial adviser. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/myntra-targets-new-growth-areas-expands-into-middle-east-market/articleshow/77238993.cms">Myntra targets new growth areas – expands into Middle East market</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/covid-19-and-a-failed-merger-alter-yatras-journey-the-offerings-look-a-lot-different-now/articleshow/77233422.cms">Covid-19 and a failed merger alter Yatra’s journey – the offerings look a lot different now</a>

OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal joins the long list of founders who have turned investors

Online learning platform <keyword id="6630114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy">Unacademy</keyword> is now valued at $3.44 billion after the latest round of fundraising, where it got investments to the tune of $440 million. Over the last 18 months, the valuation of the <keyword id="9578177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unacademy-group">Unacademy Group</keyword> has risen almost 10 times, the company reportedly said in a statement. This was the Series H round of funding for Unacademy where Aroa Ventures, the family office of hotel chain <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>’s Founder Ritesh Agarwal, and Deepinder Goyal, Co-Founder and CEO at Zomato, participated. Some angel investors of Unacademy have exited in this round. Aside from these, existing investors like General Atlantic, Tiger Global and <keyword id="3749718" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="softbank-vision-fund">Softbank Vision Fund</keyword> put in more money.This is the second investment by Tiger Global, and General Atlantic who increased their stake in Unacademy in January this year. The different shades of India’s booming edtech The six-year old startup founded by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini, Unacademy has a growing network of more than 50,000 registered educators and over 62 million learners, in 14 Indian languages across 5,000 cities. Unacademy is known for its offerings that help students prepare for competitive exams and it has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the shift to online learning. Unacademy differentiates itself from Byju’s, which relies on pre-recorded content, and Vedantu that is known for its live-tutoring. India’s edtech industry, which had an annual revenue pool of $700 million at the end of March 2020, saw its business double in the following year due to the pandemic, according to data from Goldman Sachs. The global investment bank expects the entire edtech space to be worth $30 billion dollars by March 2024 as Indians spend the most on education, as a proportion of household consumption, after China. Unacademy has been acquiring other startups amidst an edtech boom Late last month, Unacademy announced that it has acquired game streaming platform <keyword id="11725251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rheo-TV">Rheo TV</keyword>. Rheo TV is a platform that helps professional game streamers livestream their gameplays and monetise those feeds. In February, Unacademy acquired TapChief, a professional networking and "future-of-work" platform, at a valuation of ₹100 crore. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/byjus-last-two-acquisitions-and-a-deal-with-disney-reveal-its-american-dream/articleshow/84783749.cms">Byju's last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/six-red-flags-for-investors-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim-of-misselling-by-agents-or-financial-advisors/slidelist/84782913.cms">Six red flags for investors to avoid becoming a victim of misselling by agents or financial advisors</a>

The founders of OYO and Zomato pump in money to make edtech startup Unacademy worth $3.4 billion ⁠— a ten fold jump in 18 months

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EXCLUSIVE: Inside Ritesh Agarwal’s family office and its early investments

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OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal joins the long list of founders who have turned investors

Sanchita Dash

The founders of OYO and Zomato pump in money to make edtech startup Unacademy worth $3.4 billion ⁠— a ten fold jump in 18 months

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