Micromax, one of the leading Indian mobile handset makers, is reportedly going to launch a new independent fund with an initial corpus of $100 million. The fund, named Orbis Capital, will be aimed at investing in Consumer Internet startups around the globe.
As per reports, Micromax will be the lead investor in this new fund. It is also likely to raise capital from PE firms and pension funds, among others.
With a fund size of $100 million, the firm will be investing in around 10 to 12 startups, with an average ticket size of $3 million to $5 million.
Rahul Sharma, co-founder of Micromax said that the firm has already identified a few potential investments and that deals might be sealed in the next 18 months. He also said that the first investment could well be in the next six months, but will depend on the fundraising.
Orbis Capital will also consist of an advisory board. Kumar Shah, Head of merger and acquisitions at Micromax said,
We are looking for entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses in emerging markets, so Nami Zarrighalam, CEO and co-founder of Truecaller and fintech specialist and founder Perry Blacher will be some of the advisors to the fund, besides Micromax.
Even before launching the said fund, Micromax has been actively investing in startups. Till date, the mobile company has invested in ixigo, Scandid, Digital Payments Company TranServ, music streaming service Gaana.com, among others.
Earlier, in November 2016, the company had partnered with Visa and TranServ to launch mVisa for all Udio mobile app users across the country, which also includes Micromax smartphone users.
Micromax will continue to focus on innovative startups, whose products or services may be integrated into their hardware or platform to build value for consumers. The company has been trying to beef up its research and development facilities for quite some time and to integrate services into its devices.
