Oyo founder establishes VC firm in Singapore

The entity is owned by RA Hospitality Holdings, a holding company that also has a stake in Oyo. The firm plans to make early-stage investments of $500,000 to $5 million in start-ups targeting the consumer, technology, and leisure infrastructure sectors. Companies would need to demonstrate they earn more than $1 million in annual revenue, have positive unit economics, and have more than 20% in annual growth.

Aroa counts Gaurav Gulati, previously COO of Indian co-working space operator Innov8, as CIO. Innov8 was acquired by Oyo for INR2 billion ($30 million) last year. It is unclear if the GP plans to raise any external funding. The firm’s website indicates that RA Hospitality will be the financial sponsor.    

Aroa Ventures follows in the mold of several other Indian entrepreneurs that have also formed their own VC firms. Others include Titan Capital, founded by the founders of e-commerce platform Snapdeal, and Whiteboard Capital, established by the founders of payments-themed platform Freecharge.

Earlier this year, Oyo closed a $1.5 billion Series F round with nearly half the amount contributed by RA Hospitality Holdings. Agarwal is said to have borrowed up to $2.2 billion in three-year loans from a set of Japanese banks backed by a personal guarantee from SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

The company has embarked on an extensive retrenchment drive this year and recently merged its hotel and residential units in Japan. Oyo has begun to reopen hotels in various markets but a global fall in international travel has severely hurt start-ups in the hospitality sector.

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• Topics
• South Asia
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• Singapore
• Aroa Ventures
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• India