Fireside Ventures is a Bengaluru-based investment company that specialises in seed investments and early-stage investments. Recently, the investment firm has announced to have concluded its second fund for consumer brands in India, the Fund II at USD 118 million.
According to reports, the investors who participated in the company’s Fund II include Bengaluru-based Premji Invest, Corporation of Dubai, Fund of Funds for Startups operated by SIDBI – Small Industrial Development Bank of India, ITC Limited, a United States university endowment, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF, L’Oréal, Bajaj Holdings and Investment, and Pidilite Group.
Commenting on the new fund, the company mentions making future investments in 15 to 20 digital-first startups in the consumer brand segment across beauty and personal care, lifestyle, food and beverages, and home-based products, as mentioned in a report by Tech in Asia.
Kanwaljit Singh, Founder and Managing Partner at Fireside Ventures mentioned in a statement on Wednesday during a virtual interaction that the company started the fund with a target of INR 750 crore and witnessing the strong interest from various investors, the fund has formally closed at INR 863 crore with more than 100 investors participating the fund. He further added that the first close of Fund II was around one and a half years back and since then Fireside Ventures have invested in four companies. He concluded his statement by mentioning that the investment company is entertaining over 100 new opportunities every month.
Furthermore, the four companies that Fireside Ventures has invested in include Slurrp Farm – a millet-based packaged food start-up, workwear brand- FableStreet, health technology start-up- Gynoveda and wellness start-up – Sarva.
The growth of the start-up comes in from the increased adoption of digital-first start-ups in India. With the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic, the digital sector in India has grown ten-fold with businesses and start-ups having an established digital presence and providing digital services to millions of Indians. The e-commerce sector is expected to record Gross Merchandise Value of over USD 100 billion by 2025.
Witnessing this increased demand and business opportunities in the Indian market, Fireside Ventures plan to go all out and partner with young start-ups and entrepreneurs who are creating new digital-first brands across the Indian consumption spectrum. The investment company is also looking for creators who are consciously building their brands with a primary focus on what is good for consumers and the world at large, says Kanwaljit Singh.
According to the company profile, to date, the company has invested in over 22 brands and start-ups which has taken the investment company’s valuation to over USD 1 billion. Reports suggest that since Fireside Ventures has started investing in these 22 brands, it has experienced an 8times growth.
