Omidyar Network plans more exits from Indian firms in next 18 months

Omidyar Network India has invested inthe segments of consumer internet and mobiles, education, financial inclusion, governance and citizen engagement, and property rights

Omidyar Network India Advisors, the global impact investment entity Omidyar in Bengaluru, is planning to exit from some of its portfolio companies in the next 18 months.

The fund house has been in India for 10 years and has completed more than five years in some of its portfolio companies. With very few exits so far. According to data with Venture Intelligence, the fund offloaded its stake fully or partially only in four companies during 2011-2018. These being Comat Technologies, Quikr, Tree House Education and Zimmber.

Omidyar invested around $250 million (Rs 18.2 billion) in 73 organisations and start-ups here. Of which, 70 per cent was equity investment, the rest being grants.

"We will look at some exits in the next 12-18 months," said senior sources in the fund house who wished to not be named.

Omidyar was founded in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam. It has invested inthe segments of consumer internet and mobiles, education, financial inclusion, governance and citizen engagement, and property rights. Quikr, HealthKart, Indus OS, ZestMoney, Vistaar Finance, Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance and Scripbox are part of its portfolio.

Since the beginning of this year, the fund house has invested in a series of emerging businesses and start-ups, including MyUpchar, Pratilipi, Healofy and Vedantu.

Quikr is a classified advertising platform and counts Tiger Global Management, Warburg Pincus and Norwest Venture Partners, apart from Omidyar Network, as its current investors. Indus OS is a mobile operating system entity; it has raised money from Omidya, VenturEast and JSW Ventures on previous occasions. HealthKart runs omnichannel health products' stores. The fund has closed 12 deals so far this year, the aggregate investment being $106 million, including co-investors. LAst year saw eight deals, with investment (including co-investors) of $41 mn. In 2016, Omidyar had done 16 deals, highest in these eight years.

The fund house usually invests around $50 mn every year. “We don't see any change in this approach for the next three-four years,” said a source. 

The data from Venture Intelligence also showed that of its exits, the fund house (along with its co-investors) had aggregate gain of $120 million. Business Standard couldn’t ascertain the individual gain of Omidyar from past exits and the returns from its investments. Peer funds had more exits during 2011-2018. For instance, Aavishkaar and Lok Capital each had 11 exits in this period. A McKinsey report said 50 investors have put a combined $5.2 billion as part of impact investment since 2010 in India.