India-based venture capital firm Fireside Ventures has reached the $60m first close of its second fund, securing contributions from limited partners including cosmetics producer L’Oréal’s Bold fund, DealStreetAsia reported today.
Fireside Ventures focuses on early-stage investments in emerging consumer brands and has built a portfolio featuring yoghurt producer Drums Food International, Ayurvedic food and wellness product provider Kapiva Ayurveda and male grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company.
The firm has set a $100m target for Fireside Fund II, which has also made its first investment, providing an undisclosed amount of funding for Gynoveda, an India-based menstruation management and information app. L’Oréal made its contribution to the fund in September this year.
Kanwaljit Singh, managing partner of Fireside Ventures, was quoted by DealStreetAsia as saying: “We have witnessed a lot of interest from domestic and global investors including family offices, strategics, large institutions, etc. in investing in Fireside Fund II.
“The second fund aims to double down on the success of the first fund and follow the same strategy of investing in exciting young millennial brands and helping them with a strong ecosystem support. We are also starting to see credible opportunities for Indian brands to go global.”
Fireside Fund II follows a first fund which the company closed at just over $50m in March 2018. Its LPs included conglomerates RP-Sanjiv Goenka and ITC, cosmetics provider Emami and Unilever Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of consumer products maker Unilever.
