Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has committed Rs 40 crore ($4.8 million) to Aroa Venture Partners under the Government of India’s Fund of Funds for Startups and the Uttar Pradesh government’s UP Startup Fund schemes.
The fund has attracted strong interest from government quarters as well, as evidenced by the endorsement from two sovereign schemes.
Sekhar Puli has also joined Aroa Venture as a general and managing partner. In 2018, Puli, an experienced businessman, sold REAN Cloud to Hitachi Vantara. Additionally, he was an investor at BV Investment Partners, an American private equity firm.
Aroa Venture Partners was established in 2020 by Gaurav Gulati and makes early- and growth-stage investments in a variety of industries. Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of Oyo, owned RACo Holding Company, which initially sponsored Aroa Ventures. The investment company has already invested Rs 100 crore in 36 startups, such as Magicpin, MPL, and CRED.
The Aroa is a Category-II AIF that states it has commitments worth more than Rs 400 crore ($48 million) from family offices and other institutions. It intends to close completely by March 2025, the end of the current fiscal year.
