With Origami, 8i Ventures to increase its early-stage investment portfolio
Early-stage venture capital firm 8i Ventures has revealed the second iteration of Origami, a pre-seed funding initiative designed to assist early-stage entrepreneurs. In the first iteration of the program, which was introduced in March 2024, the fund invested $600,000 in three startups: Cautio, a platform for fleet dashcams and video telematics; Cobalt, a SaaS platform for native integrations; and another pre-launch startup.
With a simplified procedure that ensures a response in one week, a term sheet in two weeks, and deal closure in just four weeks, 8i Ventures claims that the Origami program provides quick access to funding.
With $25 million raised, the company recently announced the first close of its $50 million second fund. Ten million of these have been set aside for the Origami project.
A clear vision and a thorough awareness of the problems faced by their clients are qualities that 8i Ventures looks for in founders. The company wants to help teams with a broad range of expertise in areas like technology, product development, and sales by giving them quick access to capital and assistance so they can develop their ideas into profitable ventures.
The venture fund has a solid history of making early-stage investments. Its initial investment of $200,000 in M2P Technologies, for example, yielded 36x returns, and the company recently raised a round at a valuation of $800 million. Other noteworthy early investments are Slice, Easebuzz, and Bbetter, all of which have experienced substantial growth since obtaining 8i Ventures seed money.
More than 50 seed and early-stage businesses have been supported by 8i Ventures and its partners over the past ten years, generating more than $5 billion in value for shareholders both in India and abroad. Challenger brands like Slice, Kodo, Blue Tokai, and Carwale.com (NSE: CARTRADE) are part of their portfolio, along with fintech enablers like M2P, Signzy, Easebuzz, BharatX, Transbnk, and EzeTap.
