Fireside Ventures announces $225-mn fund for investment in Indian startups

Venture capital firm Fireside Ventures announced closing of its third fund at $225 million or Rs 1,830 crore, which it plans to invest in Indian startups over a period of the next 10 years

Venture capital firm Fireside Ventures on Wednesday announced closing of its third fund at USD 225 million or Rs 1,830 crore, which it plans to invest in Indian startups over a period of the next 10 years.

The new fund is double the size of its previous fund.

"We have closed out Fund III at USD 225 million which is about Rs 1,830 crore. We plan to invest Fund III in 25-30 startups in keeping with the Fireside thesis of digital-first consumer brands, across the spectrum of health and wellness, edutainment, lifestyle and FMCG," Fireside Ventures Partner Kannan Sitaram said here.

According to Fireside Ventures, the market for D2C brands in India is set to touch USD 100 billion by 2025.

Fireside Ventures has invested in 31 brands that include The Baker's Dozen, boAt, Mamaearth, Bombay Shaving Company etc.

Launched in 2017, Fireside Ventures with the close of its Fund III has Rs 3,000 crore (USD 395 million) of assets under management.

"The first fund had a corpus of Rs 340 crore and second fund Rs 863 and the third fund is at Rs 1,830 crore. In the first fund we have done 31 deals entirely in consumer brands that are digitally enabled. We see the digital space to continue to grow as Indians are now looking to shop more online," Sitaram said.

He said 7-8 out of 18 investments that Fireside Ventures made from FUND I are now profitable.

Fireside Fund III is anchored by new and existing Indian and global investors, including Self-Reliant India Fund, Investment Corporation of Dubai, SBI, Premji Invest, Waterfield - Fund of Funds, ITC Limited, Emami Limited, Sharrp Ventures and several startup founders.