 "Vinay Singh, Fireside Ventures")
With over ₹3,000 crore under management and a portfolio of 53 brands, Fireside Ventures has emerged as a leading early-stage investor in India’s consumer space, backing names like The Sleep Company, Slurrp Farm, and NatHabit. In a video interview with Peerzada Abrar, Vinay Singh, cofounder and partner, discusses how ageing millennials and Gen Z are driving demand in areas like preventive healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered wellness and lab-grade beauty. Edited excerpts:
What are the key shifts you are seeing in consumer behaviour post pandemic, and how are they shaping the next generation of consumer companies?
Today, all three Cs of consumer, channel, and category are at play. The consumer is changing, as we see emerging consumer cohorts like the Gen Zs and the connected silver generation (aged 50 and above) influencing major market trends. Both these groups are comfortable shopping and consuming products online. We also have an emerging cohort of post-Covid first-generational pet parents. There has also been evolution in terms of channels through which these consumers access businesses. A few years ago, e-commerce brands like Amazon and Flipkart were the seeding ground for new brands. With an audience of millions of internet shoppers in the last decade, many major brands, including some of our portfolio companies like MamaEarth and boAt, became very successful.
Premiumisation has become a major theme in India's D2C space. What is fuelling this trend?
If we look back to around 2017–2018, the cornerstone of Fireside’s investment thesis was that as India’s GDP per capita grows, discretionary spending will also grow. New brands can serve consumers with increased purchasing power and demand for value-add products. In 2017, GDP per capita was about $1,800; today, it's $2,400. We're now moving towards $5,000 by 2030. This growth, multiplied by India’s population scale, means discretionary spending will rise exponentially.
How do you see this trend catching up in non-metro markets?
This phenomenon is happening faster in non-metro cities than metros. Major incumbent brands have seen muted growth in large urban centres, where rent and other expenses have skyrocketed post-Covid, affecting discretionary spending.
Outside major cities, rents and expenses haven’t grown much, while wages have increased significantly, and consumers are using this purchasing power for discretionary spends.
What are the most exciting white spaces in India’s consumer ecosystem that Fireside is actively watching or investing in?
We are particularly excited about the ageing millennials and how they are looking at wellness and consumer healthcare, especially preventive healthcare. So, themes like muscle and bone health, longevity, gut health, fertility, kids nutrition, women's healthcare, hair and skin have become very important categories for us. Similarly, there's an emerging Gen Z cohort, and they are looking at the fortification of everything, and combining this with quick commerce means a lot of impulse categories in food are seeing disruption. Whether it is spices, snacks, RTD beverages, chocolates, confectionery, or dairy beverages, we are seeing disruption. Beauty and personal care is also seeing similar disruption, with Gen Z looking for here-and-now solutions and lab-grade ingredients. The millennials are looking to premiumise their categories. In fashion and lifestyle, casualisation and smaller homes are changing how consumers engage with fashion, home decor, and appliances.
