Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures launches second fund with Rs 250 crore corpus for startups; Know the details

Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures recently announced the launch of its second fund, 'Fund II', with a corpus of Rs 250 crore. 

The launch follows the success of their first fund, launched four years ago with Rs 200 crore. The company said that the new fund will focus on consumer startups, primarily in India and Southeast Asia.

What will be the investment focus?

The fund will target e-commerce companies from the pre-Series A stage onwards, acquiring up to a 25% minority stake. Sumit Keshan, Managing Partner at Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures, said the new fund will be focused on startups in various sectors such as personal care, skin care, home care, wellness, food, and fragrances.

The company said that the geographical focus will remain on India and Southeast Asia, where it believes it can add significant value beyond capital investment.

"We will look for e-commerce driven companies from Pre-Series A onwards, adopting a minority stake approach (up to 25 per cent), and continue our strategy of helping and nurturing startups as required," said Sumit Keshan, Managing Partner at Wipro Consumer Care - Ventures.

How well did Fund I perform?

Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures has made 10 investments from its first fund, with most of the capital already committed. The firm claims that the fund I has shown robust performance, with a Multiple on Invested Capital (MOIC) of over 2.2x and strong internal rates of return (IRR), surpassing market benchmarks.

Notably, the fund achieved a 10x return from its investment in The Good Glamm Group. Keshan highlighted the fund's success in adding value to its investments, providing support in areas like offline focus, R&D, sourcing, identifying third-party manufacturers, and finance discipline. 

Wipro Consumer Care's FY23 sales mark

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, part of Azim Premji-led Wipro Enterprises, has crossed Rs 10,000 crore in overall sales in FY23. The company operates in the FMCG and lighting business and has recently expanded into the food segment with acquisitions like Nirapara and Brahmins.

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