YourStory in a tete-a-tete with Rajesh Doshi, Managing Partner, 02 Supply

Please tell us about your new venture fund O2?

I have been studying the Indian Entrepreneurship climate for about 3 years now. I find the entrepreneurial ecosystem is still not developed in India. In US you have a developed ecosystem. In India largely an entrepreneur’s credibility is judged by his industry experience rather than his expertise or passion for his venture.

A robust incubation model in India has failed to kick-off. For entrepreneurs to flourish in any country there needs to be an efficient incubation and seed funding model. VC’s come into the picture much later.

Apart from funding issues I also found that many entrepreneurs today struggle with Legal (IPR), Infrastructure (office space) and Human Resources crunch. I would rather have an entrepreneur concentrate on his core competency than invest time and money into these ancillary functions.

This is where the idea of O2 Supply Venture took birth. I wanted to setup a company which works in close loop with the entrepreneur while giving him/her the resources and finances to function independently. We function according to the need of the venture both seed and venture as and when required.

O2 Supply works on a more collaborative model – we are very choosy on the companies we work with but then once we have the right fitment we ensure the company/entrepreneur long term commitment for finances and resources.

Who are your LPs and Investors?

I have raised my own corpus with the backing of our real estate business – Acme Housing. We have a board of advisors which include eminent industry professionals and learned academicians who evaluate the funding opportunities.

What sectors are you looking at?

Our domain focus is towards 4 sectors:

Real Estate and construction – being our expertise over the past 33 years

Digital Media (Mobile and Internet) – I am a huge follower of technology and being involved in the mobile space for over a decade in the valley. I want to take it further in India. While in USA we funded Perceptive Technology (http://www.perceptinc.com/) which today is doing fairly well in the IT and Technology Services domain.

Education – It’s underserved and huge potential opportunity in India. With the right mix of technology Education will be one of the prominent sectors in India in the coming years.

Healthcare – We already have a medium sized Medical Transcription company – Acroseas (www.acroseas.com) which we kicked of a decade back. I am keen to look at further potential in healthcare given our experience in the space panning over a decade.

What is your typical investment size?

I have made a conscious decision not to keep a lower and upper limit for funding. I have enough resources to raise funding if required and would not like a good business opportunity to pass by due to funding limitations. As long as the idea/business is scalable (a key requirement for us) we are more than open to fund it.

Do you also fund at the idea stage?

Absolutely, given the entrepreneur has put in in-depth research and is passionate about taking it forward.

What are the non monetary benefits that an investee company can look forward to?

Strategic support: Emphasis on product development, financial management, business development, and sales and marketing.

Regional expansion support: including selection of partners and facilitation of key relationships, licenses, and governmental/regulatory approvals.

Marketing Support: Broader view of markets to identify and facilitate synergistic relationships with other partners and portfolio companies.

Infrastructural support – We provide infrastructure (office space, Computers, Servers etc) using which the entrepreneur can plug in and kick start the business.

Human Resources and Legal Support – We provide HR specialist for startup needs and ensure they are protected as per Indian/International laws.

What’s your investment horizon?

We look to associate with any business for at least a horizon of 5 years. We invest in people more than companies hence we do not believe in valuation and sale model.

Any tips you would like to share with our readers for a successful venture?

Three tips for budding entrepreneurs:

1. This is not a 9 to 6 job in-fact it’s a thankless job and only way you will be successful is when you make money.
2. Follow a mantra – Value creates cash, cash creates enhanced value
3. Be choosy when you hire – analyze your needs and hire accordingly – A large portion of your success is defined by whom you work with.

02 Supply is currently running an entrepreneurial showcase along with NMIMS for budding entrepreneurs - check out http://www.zeal09.com/index.html