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https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-backs-plant-based-meat-startup-gooddot Sixth Sense Ventures backs plant-based meat startup GoodDot Consumer-focused venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has invested in plant-based meat company GoodDot Foods Pvt Ltd. GoodDot will use the fresh capital for research and development and marketing to support its international growth and strengthen its position in the industry, according to a statement. Udaipur based GoodDot was founded in 2016 by chief executive Abhishek Sinha and finance chief Deepak Parihar. The startup's technology replicates the taste, texture and flavour of chicken, mutton and beef using plant-based ingredients. The company recently launched its products in Canada, Dubai, Nepal, South Africa and Singapore. It plans to expand in the US and Europe in the coming months. The company also plans to expand its chain of retail quick service restaurant outlets in Mumbai, Delhi, Udaipur and Kathmandu. The firm sells through direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce platforms as well as over 7,500 offline stores. The statement noted that, according to research firm Euromonitor, meat substitutes is a $20 billion market globally expected to touch $23 billion by 2024. Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense, said consumption preferences will evolve increasingly fast towards meat alternatives on the back of health, ecological and compassion related reasons.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/open-secret-raises-funding-led-by-sixth-sense-ventures/articleshow/84597836.cms Open Secret raises funding led by Sixth Sense Ventures Open Secret, a health and nutrition-focused snacks startup, has raised an undisclosed sum led by Sixth Sense Ventures as part of its Series A funding round. Existing investor Matrix Partners India also participated in the capital raising. Open Secret will use the funds to expand its product portfolio, build capacity, increase omnichannel distribution presence and hire senior level talent, a company executive told ET. The company’s revenue has grown 10x in the last 12 months, Gautam told ET. “We want to be the challenger brand targeting the $10 billion snacking industry in India. We are stealing the market from established players and trying to create a niche,” she said. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and boAt CEO Vivek Gambhir are the other angel investors that have backed the company. Open Secret raised its seed round in December 2019. “With a strategic focus on the kids’ segment and the core value proposition around un- junking, we believe Open Secret has the ability to create a strong niche for itself,” said Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures. The healthy snacking industry is gaining traction among risk investors with companies such as Happilo, Slurrp Farm, Yoga Bar, SnackAmor and Keeros Foods raising capital in the last 12-18 months from investors to grow the business. Direct-to-consumer brands across fashion, beauty and personal care, food and beverages and electronics are expected to rack up business worth $100 billion in the country, Avendus Capital said in a report last year.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/fraazo-raises-15-million-from-sixth-sense-ventures-others/articleshow/84046534.cms Fraazo raises $15 million from Sixth Sense Ventures, others Fraazo, a D2C brand in the fresh vegetables and fruit space, is looking to expand operations pan India, while cashing in on the unprecedented digital adoption within the fragmented fresh food market. Fraazo, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand in the fresh vegetables and fruits space, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The company has also received strong interest from development finance institutions and multilaterals for an additional $5 million of financing for expansion and to enhance its procurement base with farmers in the North and Northeast India, it said in a statement. The investment enables the company, which currently serves only the Mumbai market, to expand to other metros and invest in technology. The funding round is a mix of equity and debt, the company said. Nabard-backed Nabventrues and existing investors Equanimity Ventures, Apar Group and Asian Paints’ Manish Choksi also participated in the current round. Through a network of micro-fulfilment stores, Fraazo delivers farm-fresh vegetables and fruits across Mumbai within 60 minutes. Launched 12 months ago, it has served a million customers till date, the company said. Founded last year by Atul Kumar, Vikas Dosala, Sumit Rai, and Aashish Krishnatre, Fraazo follows a farm-to-fork model where it owns the entire back-end supply chain starting with farmers. The company is looking to expand operations pan-India, while cashing in on the unprecedented digital adoption within the fragmented fresh food market.

https://www.vccircle.com/after-quadria-sixth-sense-ventures-bets-on-diaper-maker-nobel-hygiene After Quadria, Sixth Sense Ventures bets on diaper maker Nobel Hygiene Consumer focused venture capital fund Sixth Sense Ventures has invested Rs 95 crore ($12.7 million) in Nobel Hygiene Pvt Ltd, days after Quadria Capital ploughed capital to provide exits to some of the diaper brand’s early institutional backers. Nobel Hygiene will utilise the capital to gear up for a substantial jump in discretionary spend by Indians, now that the virus is waning. “With our current expansion in Gujarat, in conjunction with a slew of hires made for our leadership team, we are rightly placed to take advantage of this market expansion,” said Kamal Johari, founder and CEO of the firm. Mumbai-based Nobel Hygiene was founded in 2000. It makes adult diapers, maternity pads, adult pull-ups, under pads, nappy pads and baby diapers. It markets its baby diapers under the Teddyy and Snuggy brands while adult incontinence products are sold under the Friends brand. Nobel Hygiene claims to be India’s first indigenous manufacturer of adult and baby diapers with 10 manufacturing lines. “Nobel Hygiene fits perfectly well into the thesis of betting on first generation founders pioneering products for the new age consumer within the over $860 million diaper segment,” said Nikhil Vora, founder of Sixth Sense Ventures. Veeba Foods, Soothe Healthcare (Paree), LEAP India, Fullife, and Eupheus Learning are some other successful bets by Sixth Sense Ventures made over the years. Recently the fund made an investment in listed Parag Milk. VCCircle was the first to report that India and Southeast Asia-focused Quadria Capital invested nearly Rs 500 crore in Nobel Hygiene. The transaction gave exit to early backers including alternative asset management firm CLSA Capital Partners and homegrown private equity firm Access PE. A source said that a minor part of this transaction was fresh infusion into the company. In February 2015, CLSA Capital Partners invested $10 million in Nobel Hygiene. In 2013, Access co-invested with other individual investors in a deal worth around $11.5 million. In 2018, Nobel Hygiene acquired diaper brand Snuggy from Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. The company had posted net sales of Rs 421 crore during fiscal year 2019-20 as against Rs 341 crore a year before. Net profit rose to Rs 17.6 crore from Rs 4.6 crore during the period under review, as per VCCEdge. In the baby diaper segment, Nobel Hygiene competes with big brands such as Procter & Gamble's Pampers, Kimberly-Clark's Huggies and Unicharm's Mamy Poko Pants.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/bombay-shaving-company-raises-rs-15-crore-from-sixth-sense-ventures/articleshow/81691786.cms Bombay Shaving Company raises Rs 15 crore from Sixth Sense Ventures Bombay Shaving Company (BSC) has raised Rs 15 crore from existing investor Sixth Sense Ventures, the company said in a press statement on Thursday. This will include a primary infusion as well as a secondary purchase of shares from senior employees. With this, Sixth Sense now owns 24% of the company. The current round is a follow-up to last month's Rs 45-crore infusion led by global consumer giant Reckitt. Launched in June 2016, BSC is a premium personal care brand for men and women. The company sells its products online and in brick-and-mortar stores. "Thrilled to see Sixth Sense Ventures doubling down on their investment in us. Our primary goal now is to build a leadership team to take us from a startup to an established FMCG organisation,” said Shantanu Deshpande, founder and CEO of BSC. Deshpande said the company “rode the pandemic wave”. Consumers typically buy personal care products such as shaving creams offline, he told ET, but are increasingly doing so online because of the lockdown. “We were able to compete far more capably with our competitors on a five-inch screen [than] in two million stores,” he said. “We are touching a Rs 100-crore top line and are looking to double this by the end of the financial year,” he added. "BSC has grown 3X since pre-Covid times. It is expanding aggressively and the team is incredible. We are very bullish and see the company continuing to grab market share across channels and categories." said Nikhil Vora, founder of Sixth Sense Ventures.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/eupheus-learning-lands-4-1-million-in-funding/articleshow/80920694.cms Eupheus Learning lands $4.1 million in funding The Delhi-based startup said it will utilise the capital to grow its business organically in India with a focus on supplemental at-home learning solutions, while it is also looking at expanding internationally in West Asia and then other markets such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It added that it is also looking to pursue inorganic growth through acquisitions. “Eupheus has established a strong presence in the B2B EdTech space in India and we look forward to expanding our geographical presence, increasing our engagement with schools, and bringing more innovative learning solutions to our target markets,” said Sarvesh Shrivastava, founder at Eupheus. “We are excited to partner with UEC and ARHC to roll out our solutions across the Middle East,” Shrivastava added. Founded by Shrivastava, Ved Prakash Khatri, and Amit Kapoor in June 2017, Eupheus claims it has partnerships with 5,000 schools and reaches 4 million students. It launched its home-learning solution Learn2Code in the second half of 2020, which has so far seen 700 schools signing up for the solution with 180,000 students using the service. “We see a huge opportunity in utilising their (Eupheus’) offerings to improve learning outcomes across our network of schools in the Middle East. We feel that the omnichannel approach of Eupheus is the way forward to build a scalable profitable model in the EdTech space,” said Shaikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah, Chairperson at UEC. Eupheus said it became profitable in 21 months since starting its operations. It said it clocked a revenue of Rs 72 crore in FY20, and has a presence in more than 80 cities across India with a team strength of 175 people so far.

https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/curefit-acquires-fitternity-in-second-acquisition-in-2021-11612858891924.html Cure.fit acquires Fitternity in second acquisition in 2021 Fitness startup Cure.fit on Tuesday said it has acquired fitness facilities aggregator Fitternity, a move that will give it access to a higher number of offline fitness centres in the country. The value of the deal was not disclosed. After the acquisition, Fitternity will continue to exist as a separate platform and will help Cure.fit to scale its Cult Pass - the company’s all-access pass to offline gyms and Cult centres in the country, the company said. Cult Pass, launched in December, marked Cure.fit’s entry into the gym and equipment-workout space as it looked to add all fitness formats on its platform. This is the second acquisition for Cure.fit this year after it bought out California-based fitness company Onyx in January to boost its at-home fitness offerings and to bolster its international business. “Fitness in India is still in initial stages at sub 1% penetration. Over the next 10-20 years, this will increase to 15-20% like in the West. With increasing health awareness, demand is increasing, and we need to put up quality supply. With Fitternity on board, Cure.fit will improve existing offline gyms, bring them up to speed with better technology, and focus on empowering them to adjust to the post-Covid scenario amid changing consumer expectations," said Mukesh Bansal, co-founder, Cure.fit. The acquisition will bring in more than 5,000 fitness centres across top 20 cities in India, and 3 million customers under the purview of Cure.fit and Fitternity. Cure.fit is also planning to help offline gyms with operating procedures and aid them in increasing their visibility for better utilisation through the acquisition. “At Fitternity, we have always focused on creating innovative solutions to make fitness easy and accessible for Indians - this vision will be further extended with our partnership. Fitternity will continue to run as it always has," said Neha Motwani, co-founder and CEO, Fitternity. Cure.fit added that the combined infrastructure of Fitternity will result in almost doubling of revenues from the Cult Pass offering. In May, the had company raised close to $75 million in equity funding led by existing investor Accel, which valued the startup at roughly $550 million. It had subsequently raised debt from Innoven Capital, as well as others. It had spun off its food tech vertical Eatfit into a separate entity to function and raise funds for it independently.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/reckitt-invests-in-bombay-shaving-co/articleshow/80488785.cms Reckitt invests in Bombay Shaving Co Bengaluru/Mumbai: Global consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser is leading a Rs 45-crore strategic investment in homegrown grooming products venture Bombay Shaving Company. British firm Reckitt’s American rival Colgate-Palmolive had invested in the four-year-old firm in 2018. This backing from two of the world’s largest consumer products firms shows their desire to grow the category and tap into the youth-oriented brand space in India. Bombay Shaving, which started as an online venture, plans to utilise Reckitt’s strategic expertise to expand in offline channels as well as for brand-building. Reckitt’s brands include Dettol, Harpic, Mortein and Strepsils. Its SVP (e-commerce, digital, and ventures), Arjun Purkayastha, will join the board of Visage Lines, which runs Bombay Shaving. Colgate-Palmolive already has a board seat in the firm. “Through Reckitt, we get an understanding of optics, cities and consumer profile. This is hugely valuable for us. We are now focusing significantly on offline distribution. We will work with their sales team and figure out off-take in different cities directly. Apart from that, we also get R&D insights,” said Visage Lines founder and CEO Shantanu Deshpande. Reckitt’s investment indicates the interest large global brands have in new brands that have built their presence through online platforms. French consumer major L’Oreal is an investor in venture capital firm Fireside’s new fund, which invests in such online brands. Previously, Marico acquired men’s grooming startup Beardo. Procter & Gamble (P&G) had also announced a Rs 400-crore ‘India Growth Fund’ to work with existing and new suppliers to boost local manufacturing of finished products. Increate Value Advisors founder & CEO Milind Sarwate said large companies operating in the consumer space would certainly be more and more open to such investments. Sarwate said it is not possible to nurture a nimble, Gen Z kind of business unit within a large organisation. Therefore, companies would look at achieving the same effect through a separate unit or an alliance. “Brands that FMCG companies are investing in today are those they would not find easy to develop at a fast pace organically. There is also some glitz associated with the involvement with a new-age brand or startup. For a global player, the monetary cost of such an investment in India is not very significant. The valuation is attractive in the context of the perceived potential. In the long run, such investments could yield handsome returns,” said Sarwate. Bombay Shaving currently has 75% of sales coming from the online channel, with equal contribution from its own platform and marketplaces like Amazon India and Flipkart. “We are in a category which needs to be where the consumer is (online or offline). We are at 12,000 stores and plan to get to 50,000 stores in 30 cities by the end of this year,” Deshpande added. A host of other brands that started as online ventures, like earphone maker boAt, are also expanding offline distribution. Deshpande said his startup plans to launch three new brands in the personal care space to broaden its positioning beyond a male-oriented brand. Women’s beauty and men’s make-up are some of these potential segments. “It will be a sharper brand positioning, rather than one-for-all,” he added. Bombay Shaving has clocked sales of just under Rs 100 crore till date and is aiming for Rs 150 crore by December 2021.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/soothe-healthcare-eyes-rs-500-crore-revenue-in-3-years/articleshow/80432648.cms Soothe Healthcare eyes Rs 500 crore revenue in 3 years Homegrown personal hygiene products maker Soothe Healthcare, whose brands are Paree sanitary pads and Super Cute diapers, is looking at a revenue of Rs 500 crore in three years, as it expands product portfolio and builds distribution presence across the country. "We manufacture, distribute and market personal hygiene products. We believe there is a tremendous (growth) opportunity as income rises and awareness increases. Paree sanitary pads is already a Rs 100-crore brand. With Super Cute, we are looking to add another Rs 50 crore," Soothe Healthcare Chief Executive Officer and founder Sahil Dharia told PTI. Dharia said the company expects the sanitary napkins market to have tailwinds on the back of government initiatives and growing awareness in the coming years. "So, we believe we will be a Rs 500 crore company in three years... We are now an FMCG company that is looking beyond sanitary napkins. We are also in baby diapers now. We plan to get into the adult diapers space and launch products next year. One product at a time," he added. Soothe Healthcare launched its diaper brand Super Cute amid the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020. When asked what was the rationale of launching a new product during a pandemic, Dharia said: "It was a calculated risk... We understand absorbent products well; we have assets in distribution... We have launched innovative products in the diaper space. In a very short time, Super Cute will be a Rs 50 crore brand. It is already a Rs 40 crore brand." Elaborating on distribution for its products, Dharia said, "We are focussed on non-metros (cities) at the moment. For Super Cute, we are in the top-20 cities right now, and we will be in the top-30 cities in the coming months. We plan to increase distribution to pan India by the second half of this calendar year". "We already have a good handle on distribution in North and Central India..now we are looking at expanding in South India in the second half of this calendar year," he added. Soothe Healthcare has two manufacturing plants in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and its products are present in 1,50,00 outlets across India. Dharia started the company in 2013 with a seed capital of Rs 8 crore. Over the years, Soothe Healthcare has raised several rounds of funding and invested by foreign institutional and domestic investors such as London listed private equity fund, Symphony Asia Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and Mumbai-based consumer fund, Sixth Sense Ventures. Sixth Sense has already invested thrice in the last three years, and Symphony invested twice. When asked how much money the company has raised so far, he said: "We have raised several hundred crore. We are well capitlised. For our capital expansion, we continue to raise debt."

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/morgan-stanley-infra-invests-rs-180-cr-in-leap-india Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Invests Rs 180 Crore In LEAP India Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure on Thursday said it has invested Rs 180 crore to acquire stake in LEAP India. Founded in 2013, LEAP India is an asset pooling company dedicated to providing dependable and cost-effective solutions to supply chains across India, according to a statement. The company has an asset pool of approx 4 million units, including pallets, foldable large containers, crates and utility boxes, it said. LEAP now aims to achieve a total asset pool of 6 million and provide technologically advanced products to the market, its founder promoter and managing director Sunu Mathew said. Its business is linked to India's consumption story and primarily caters to fast-moving consumer goods, consumer durables, beverages, e-commerce, retail, auto and auto-component manufacturing sectors, Morgan Stanely said in the statement. The timber pallets and plastic utility boxes are used by companies in FMCG and beverages sectors, it said, adding auto companies use FLCs and crates. LEAP, which provides these assets on lease and helps in integrating the supply chain across suppliers, manufacturers, 3PL service providers and retailers, has a large footprint in India catering to over 600 customers and more than 7,000 touch-points from a pan-India network of 18 warehouses. "LEAP has been able to navigate the Covid-19 situation successfully and has emerged stronger with an increased market share. "In terms of market opportunity, India is hugely under-penetrated in terms of palletisation. With our investment, we expect that LEAP will further consolidate its market-leading position," Shyamsundar Gurumoorthy, Managing Director and Co-Head of Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure, said. Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure has also invested in Unison Enviro, a city gas distribution company, in partnership with Ashoka Buildcon and in Healthmap Diagnostics.