Robi subsidiary unveils Tk15cr private equity fund

RedDot Digital, a wholly-owned ICT focused subsidiary of Robi Axiata Limited, has unveiled a private equity fund to promote digital entrepreneurship in the country.

R-Ventures Private Equity Fund will be registered under the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the target fund size is Tk15 crore, according to the regulatory filing.

With the purpose of launching the alternative investment fund, an agreement signing ceremony took place among RedDot Digital, SBK Tech Ventures and Green Delta Insurance Company Limited at a city hotel on Wednesday.

RedDot Digital will act as the sponsor of the fund, while SBK Tech Ventures will play the role of the General Partner or the Fund Manager.

General partners actively manage alternative investment funds, while limited partners are the investors of the fund who rely on general partners for the fund management.

Green Delta Insurance Company, as trustee of the private equity fund, shall act as the guardian of the fund while IDLC Investments Limited and ACNABIN shall perform the roles of valuer and auditor respectively.

RedDot Digital's Managing Director Dr Asif Naimur Rashid and Founder of SBK Tech Ventures Sonia Bashir Kabir signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

The agreement has paved the way for these companies to collaborate for nurturing the digital startup ecosystem of Bangladesh, said the firms.

BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam attended the signing ceremony as the chief guest while BSEC Commissioner Dr Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed was present as the special guest at the launching event.

In the agreement signing ceremony, Robi's Chief Commercial Officer Shihab Ahmad highlighted the journey of r-ventures and its current portfolio.

Speaking on the occasion, Robi's Managing Director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said, "We are very proud to be unveiling the alternative investment fund, r-ventures, to ensure a reliable and specialised source of alternative investment fund to turbocharge the country's promising digital start-ups."

"Apart from securing the investment fund, r-ventures will provide valuable management advisory and mentoring support to the participating digital start-ups. Besides, r-ventures will plug digital start-ups to a strong investors' network for securing their funding. Hence, r-ventures will certainly diversify our capital market," he added.

Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam said, "The initiative to form R-Ventures Alternative Investment Fund to support young entrepreneurs of the country is highly commendable. Seeing its success, I hope others will also come forward. We would always provide our full support for such initiatives."

SBK Tech Ventures Founder Sonia Bashir Kabir and Chairman of Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh Shamim Ahsan also spoke on the occasion. Representatives from Green Delta Insurance, IDLC Investment Limited and ACNABIN were present at the launching programme.

Alternative investment mainly includes venture capital support to startups, generally followed by private equity investment at the next phase of the firms' growth path, and impact investment where investors care about the social and environmental impact of ventures for the sake of sustainability. 

Also, angel investors are being more active who generally remain undisclosed to help young talents in entrepreneurship.
 
Robi in support of ICT startups

Robi Axiata through its subsidiary RedDot Digital has had a good track record to support and promote technology entrepreneurship in Bangladesh.
It launched its first such initiative r-ventures 1.0 in 2017 to inspire its internal talents to come up with tech venture ideas and funded 5 of them to go ahead with the ideas.

Some of them successfully emerged as vendors to Robi Axiata Ltd too.

Later in 2019, r-ventures 2.0 successfully funded eight more tech-based startups by local externals.

All the ventures that came up through competition received grooming and mentoring arranged by r-ventures alongside a total funding of over Tk12 crore.

Now RedDot Digital is working to come up with the third programme for even bigger support to potential digital enterprises and R-Ventures Private Equity Fund is expected to cater the programme with funding, but not limited within.

Robi Axiata Limited is a public limited company, where Asian telecom giant, Axiata Group Berhad, based in Malaysia, holds the majority 61.82% shares of the second largest telecom operator of Bangladesh.

New Delhi-based Bharti Airtel holds 28.18% shares and the remaining 10% shares of the company are held by the public.