Omidyar Network decides to exit Indian market after a decade of operations

Impact investment firm Omidyar Network India, which has a dual-chequebook investment model, is exiting India after a decade of operations, reported TechCrunch.

"Over the last decade, Omidyar Network India has played a critical role in building the impact investment sector, especially focused on the Next Half Billion. We are proud of our work in this space, which is now attracting larger pools of capital from local venture capital or impact investors and domestic philanthropists than ever before. Having achieved our primary objective of catalysing impact, Omidyar Network India will not be making any further investments in India," said a statement issued by Omidyar Network India.

"After several months of deliberation, it has been decided that Omidyar Network India will stop making new investments and will completely transition out of the market by the end of 2024. Over the next two months, the board and leadership team will assess how best to manage the organisation's portfolio while recognising the long and trusted partnerships that the Omidyar Network India team has built," said the Omidyar Group in an internal blog post.

The blog further added, "This decision was heavily informed by the significant change in context and the growth in the economic landscape that the India-based team has experienced since first making investments there in 2010. Today, there is more Indian led philanthropic and venture capital than ever before, the country has a vibrant start-up sector, and several funds now have a middle and lower-middle income focus as part of their investment strategy."

Backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, the local unit focused on startups based in India. It has made investments in several noted startups like Tata 1mg, Bounce, Centa, CloudSek, DealShare, Kiwi, Otipy, Doubtnut, and more. It recently led the $6 million round in Digivriddhi Technologies, a fintech start-up serving the dairy industry.

The TechCrunch report further stated that the investor had about $673 million of cumulative assets in India.

It is also worth noting that the Omidyar group has come under scanner of the Government of India (GoI) over alleged unauthorised foreign funding. In 2021, Omidyar Network International was among the group of 10 American, Australian and European NGOs that were barred from funding.