Orios Venture Partners Partially Exits Battery Smart With 29X Returns

Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Orios Venture Partners has partially exited battery swapping startup Battery Smart with 29X returns. 

The partial exit was likely made via Battery Smart’s $65 Mn Series B funding round announced earlier in the day. The funding round, led by LeapFrog Investments, was a mix of primary and secondary investments, the startup said.

Orios’ partial exit aligns with its strategy of giving its limited partners a 1X return on their principal investment in four or five years, it said in a statement. Notably, the VC firm also made a similar partial exit recently, making 45X returns on its investment in Country Delight.

Orios made its first investment in Battery Smart in 2020, within a year of the startup’s inception. In 2022, it doubled down on its investment by participating in the startup’s $25 Mn Series A round. 

“Over the years, the startup has proven the efficacy of their innovations and business model. They now capture over 70% market share and lead a rapidly expanding sector,” Orios partner Sukhmani Bedi said on the partial exit. 

The VC firm primarily invests in consumer-focussed startups. It counts the likes of ixigo, Mobikwik, CarDekho, Zupee, among others in its portfolio. 

In 2015, Orios closed its Fund I at INR 300 Cr. In January this year, the VC firm said it had returned the aforementioned amount to its investors. 

Besides Fund I, it also closed a $30 Mn “Select Fund I” to make follow-up investments in its portfolio startups. Orios backed PharmEasy, GoMechanic, Country Delight, MobiKwik, and Nazara Technologies through this fund. 

Meanwhile, its portfolio startup Battery Smart said today that it would raise the fresh funding to fuel its next phase of expansion by bringing its battery-as-a-service solution to more cities across India. 

Founded in 2020 by Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart offers battery swapping solutions and charging infrastructure to small and medium businesses (SMBs). It claims to have over 45,000 customers. 

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