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https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/leap-raises-funds-in-round-led-by-tvs-cap-1564081601836.html MUMBAI: Mumbai-based supply chain solutions provider LEAP India has raised ₹216 crore in a Series C round led by private equity firm TVS Capital Funds, senior executives said in an interview. TVS Capital has infused ₹100 crore into the venture, while existing investors Sixth Sense Venture Fund invested ₹32 crore, and Samena Capital pumped in ₹40 crore. Mayfield and IndiaNivesh Fund, among others, also participated in the round. LEAP India has so far raised $97 million, including equity and debt financing. Its early investors include TCI Ventures, SSG Capital Management Group, and Marico founder Harsh Mariwala’s son, Rishabh Mariwala. “The logistics services space is very interesting and venture-funded firms that are coming into the growth phase, operate in the B2B (business-to-business) space and have experienced founders make for a strong investment opportunity for our fund," said Gopal Srinivasan, managing director and chairman, TVS Capital Funds. This is the second investment by TVS Shriram Growth Fund 3, which is the third fund of TVS Capital Funds. TVS Capital Funds had announced the second close of its third fund at ₹1,100 crore on 10 July. The fund focuses on financial services, business services, and niche consumption segments. It has also invested ₹35 crore in Mumbai-based Suryoday Small Finance Bank, taking its total deployment to ₹135 crore, said Srinivasan. Earlier, TVS Capital had invested in TVS Logistics Services Ltd from TVS Shriram Growth Fund 1A, the only other investment besides LEAP India in the logistics space. “The private asset lending space in logistics is growing hugely with the goods and services tax-based rationalization of the supply chain. This is an industry driven by the network effect because one needs to have a network of warehouses and customers to be able to make the rental business work efficiently," said Srinivasan. Founded in 2013 by Sunu Mathew, the B2B solutions provider claims to be a market leader in returnable packaging services. The firm pools equipment and packaging, such as wooden pallets, plastic containers, wooden boxes and metal wire mesh, to companies across sectors, for storing or transferring products from one location to another. “The new funding will help maintain the high growth trajectory as we consolidate our leadership position as the No. 1 Indian returnable packaging service provider. We are strengthening our capabilities by investing in track and trace technologies, enhancing our information platforms and modernising the operational infrastructure to provide a best-in-class customer experience. Recently we infused new talent by on-boarding industry veterans and subject matter experts, to drive the next phase of growth and profitability," Mathew said. Its clients include Coca-Cola India, ITC, Mondelez, Reckitt Benckiser and Tata Motors Ltd.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-scores-one-of-the-best-vc-exits-in-india-in-recent-times Nikhil Vora-led Sixth Sense Ventures has generated one of the highest returns on an investment by a venture capital firm in India in recent years after fully cashing out of a consumer-focussed company it had backed barely two-and-a-half-years ago. Sixth Sense has struck its third and final exit from Hindustan Foods Ltd and earned a nine-fold return on its investment in the contract manufacturer for fast-moving consumer goods companies, VCCircle estimates show. This translates into an internal rate of return (IRR), or annualised return, of about 220%, the estimates show. That's far higher than the 20-30% IRR that private equity and venture capital firms typically target in rupee terms. Sixth Sense had invested Rs 8 crore in December 2016 for a 15.4% stake in the Goa-based company, which was previously owned by diversified conglomerate Dempo Group. It first sold a small chunk of shares last year and then a bulk of its stake earlier this year. Overall, it divested a 12.5% stake in the two tranches for Rs 56 crore. In the final tranche, Sixth Sense recently sold the remaining 3.03% stake in Hindustan Foods for Rs 17.4 crore, regulatory filings show. Sixth Sense's stake was bought by homegrown public markets-focussed private equity firm WestBridge Capital Partners. The PE firm now owns a stake of about 14.7% in Hindustan Foods. Its overall investment in the company is pegged at Rs 75 crore. Vora continues to own a 4.08% stake in a personal capacity through wife Chaitali. That stake is worth upwards of Rs 23.7 crore at the current market rate. Shares of Hindustan Foods were up 0.8% on the BSE on Thursday at Rs 432.55 apiece. The stock has traded between Rs 484 and Rs 252.80 over the past year. However, the rationale of the stake sale in Hindustan Foods is not clear as Sixth Sense is simultaneously making a fresh investment through warrants. VCCircle reported earlier this year that Convergent Finance, a private equity firm floated by former Fairfax India executive Harsha Raghavan, had agreed to invest in Hindustan Foods. Sixth Sense is buying warrants convertible into equity shares as part of the same deal. An email query sent to Vora seeking comment on the divestment, returns estimates as well as warrant purchase from the second fund did not yield a response till the time of publishing this report. This isn't the first time Sixth Sense has made a blockbuster exit. It had also made seven-fold return, or 175% IRR, on its investment from JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Ltd, which makes oral care products on contract for brands such as Dabur, Patanjali and Amway. Separately, Vora himself had harvested multi-fold gains by selling his stake in digital wallet firm Paytm to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba two years ago.

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/bira-91-secures-4-3m-funding-from-sixth-sense-ventures/69579816 Bira 91 had forayed into mass beer market with the launch of a sub-brand Boom in April this year. B9 Beverages, owner of craft beer company Bira 91, has raised $4.3 million in fresh funding from Sixth Sense Ventures as part of its Pre-Series C round, at an estimated post-money valuation of $246 million. Sixth Sense Ventures was allotted five lakh Pre-Series C preference shares for Rs 30 crore, according to documents filed with regulators, sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc. Bira 91 has raised $74 million in funding so far from angel investors including Bollywood bigwigs Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, as well as prominent names in the tech sector such as Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy. According to Paper.vc, Bira 91 has continued to raise capital from high net worth individuals despite bringing onboard institutional investors, unlike most other startups. Sequoia Capital is the largest institutional investor in the company. Brussels-based investment firm Sofina had led its $50 million Series B funding in May last year. In April, Bira 91 forayed into the mass beer market with the launch of a sub-brand Boom, currently available in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The company expects to expand its production footprint five-fold to 2,000,000 barrels before the summer of 2019, from its current capacity of 350,000 barrels.

https://www.vccircle.com/craft-beer-brand-bira-91-gets-new-venture-capital-investor/6 B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd, which makes craft beer under the brand Bira 91, has raised a bridge round of funding from a new institutional investor, a person privy to the development told VCCircle. The company has secured Rs 30 crore ($4.2 million) in funding from consumer-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures, the person said, asking not to be named. The investment in Bira 91 was first flagged by data research firm Paper.vc, citing regulatory filings. The transaction valued the company at $246 million (Rs 1,718 crore), according to Paper.vc. The company’s valuation was $210 million (around Rs 1,400 crore) when it raised its last institutional round of funding—from Belgium-based investment firm Sofina—a year ago, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital. For Sixth Sense, this transaction marks its debut deal in the alcoholic-beverage category. Email queries to B9 Beverages and Sixth Sense didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this report. Bira 91 Launched in February 2015, Bira 91 has a presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh. The company has also forayed into the US and Asia-Pacific, starting with New York and Singapore. It has nearly 350 employees and runs two breweries. It also has a tie-up with a contract manufacturer in Belgium. Bira 91 had raised Series A funding from Sequoia Capital in 2016. The multi-stage investor later invested more money in the Indian company. Last year, Bira 91 secured 335 crore (around $50 million) in a round of funding led by Sofina. The company’s consolidated net sales jumped almost five times during 2017-18, to Rs 158 crore from Rs 30.9 crore the year before. Its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 101.8 crore from Rs 55 crore, according to VCCEdge. Sixth Sense Ventures The VC firm was founded in 2014 by Nikhil Vora, the former managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. It runs two funds—it raised Rs 125 crore for the first fund and had a target corpus of Rs 350 crore for the second fund. The company claimed to have marked the first close of the second fund in March 2018. In its debut deal, it had invested in luxury watch retailer Ethos. From the first fund, it invested in 10 companies such as Cross Roads India Assistance Pvt. Ltd, a roadside assistance provider for cars and two-wheelers; media group NDTV's e-commerce venture Gadgets360; Grab, a Mumbai-based hyperlocal logistics service provider; and gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. It exited three investments from its first fund, recording an internal rate of return of 40%. From the second fund, it has invested in seven companies and exited none so far. These include Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells sports nutrition supplements under the brand Fast & Up; and Eupheus Learning, which develops textbooks and their digitised versions to integrate class and home learning. Earlier this month, it struck its first deal in the fitness segment. Deals in the alco-beverage segment The segment has recorded several deals over the past few months. Earlier this month, British Brewing Company received an initial commitment of Rs 100 crore from investors including NeoMile Capital in its first external equity fundraise. In January, United Spirits Ltd sold its Bengaluru-based wine subsidiary Four Seasons Wines Ltd for Rs 31.86 crore to Grover Zampa Vineyards Ltd and its investor Quintela Assets Ltd. In September 2018, mead maker Moonshine Meadery secured seed capital from a bunch of wealthy individuals. In July 2018, VCCircle reported that IIFL Asset Management Ltd invested in a craft-beer maker, marking its debut deal in the alcoholic-beverage segment. The previous month, VC firm Saama Capital and early-stage investor DSG Consumer Partners invested in an alcoholic-beverage company.

https://www.vccircle.com/fund-scan-how-sixth-sense-is-replicating-founder-nikhil-vora-s-paytm-success-story Just days before SoftBank’s record $1.4-billion investment in Paytm in 2017, an individual investor’s exit from the digital wallet company with windfall gains made waves. Nikhil Vora, an early investor in Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd, laughed all the way to the bank with a whopping 75-fold gain on the investment by selling his stake to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Cut to two years later, Vora’s investments from Sixth Sense Ventures is showing signs of replicating the harvest he plucked from Paytm and other personal bets that he had made before the launch of the consumer-centric venture capital firm in 2014. “Our first fund is already at a 45% internal rate of return (IRR),” said Vora. “And with four exits completed, Sixth Sense has achieved a rare feat of possibly being the first VC fund in India to return capital to its investors within three years,” he added. Sixth Sense’s performance sounds spectacular in an industry where the overall exit environment has been muted. So, what are Vora and his team doing right?

Intuitive investing

Sixth Sense is a pure-play investor in the Indian consumer value chain, covering brands, products, services, distribution and analytics. The VC firm is staying true to its cause of being a consumer fund and not getting swayed by the latest fad, which gives it an advantage over trend investing, said Vora, adding it will stick to these themes while avoiding pure tech plays, infrastructure, financial services, real estate and commodities. The VC firm’s 10 investments from the debut fund and 10 so far from the second fund have been driven by this philosophy. Together with the idea of remaining true to the sector, Sixth Sense has been guided by the idea of ‘intuit’, from which the firm also derives its name. “It is not always about how you see it but how you feel it,” said Vora, which sounds paradoxical coming from him given his experience of more than a decade at IDFC Securities crunching numbers as managing director and head of research and a much sought-after star analyst of the consumer sector. “I have been an analyst. But I don’t think it is great to be obsessed with numbers. How we look at consumer trends and investments are intuitional,” he said. Vora added that the personal investments he started making while at IDFC laid the ground to build the thesis of Sixth Sense and focus on private companies. “If you look at Fortune 500 companies, 90% of them die. Fortune 500 companies to me are symbolic of the listed companies in India that have matured and evolved. That’s not where I want to play. Tomorrow’s leaders are born today, and hence, private,” he explained.

Betting on public companies

Still, Sixth Sense hasn’t completely ruled out investing in listed firms and this strategy has earned the VC firm substantial dividends. In March, the VC firm walked home with blockbuster returns from its listed portfolio company Hindustan Foods after WestBridge Capital Partners bought its stake in the contract manufacturer for fast-moving consumer goods. It also made seven-fold returns, or 175% IRR, on its investment from another portfolio firm JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Ltd, which makes oral care products on contract for brands such as Dabur, Patanjali and Amway. “There would be themes and opportunities that could become extremely large and where the fund would love to participate,” said Vora. Major VC firms such as SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India and Norwest Venture Partners have also made private investments in public equities (PIPE). VCCircle, in its analysis of SAIF Partners, had detailed how the investment firm’s PIPE deals were paying off. Sixth Sense’s second fund has also bet on third-party logistics services provider AVG Logistics Ltd, which is listed on NSE Emerge, the stock exchange platform for small and medium enterprises. Vora said that increased activity in the SME exchanges has created enough liquidity for businesses to access larger pools of capital and has provided investors and shareholders an exit route. Last year, early-stage VC firm Blume Ventures’ portfolio company E2E Networks Ltd created a buzz after the cloud computing firm’s initial public offering generated an overwhelming response on the SME exchange. Vora said that the VC firm is expected to invest around 15% in listed companies from the second fund, higher than the 10% it did from the debut fund.

Doubling down

The VC firm has also re-invested in companies from its first fund by deploying capital in them from its second fund. VC firms generally avoid this investment strategy. For instance, venture firm Lightbox raised an “expansion fund” to double down on investments from its previous fund rather than putting in money from a new fund. Sixth Sense invested more in JHS, consumer healthcare products firm Soothe Healthcare and supply chain solutions firm Leap India, said Vora. The second fund will surely invest in businesses funded by the first fund if it finds the investment will give optimising returns, he added. For instance, Sixth Sense pumped more capital in Soothe, the company behind the Paree brand of sanitary napkins. This is because the business has been scaling rapidly with 10-fold growth in revenue in the last year due to increased depth in distribution. “Investments in capex in the last year has positioned Soothe well to reach peak throughput capacities of over Rs 300 crore,” Vora noted.

Hiccups

While Sixth Sense appears to be in a comfortable position now, the VC firm had to face its share of hurdles early on when it was raising capital for its debut fund. It had originally targeted to make the final close of its maiden fund at Rs 250 crore by mid-2014. The fund, however, made the final close at Rs 125 crore ($18.5 million) in 2016. The fundraising got delayed as the firm had to incorporate certain changes in its private placement memorandum and refile its papers with capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for registration under its AIF norms. The entire first fund was raised from domestic Limited Partners including Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), several CEOs and high-net-worth (HNI) individuals. In contrast, the fundraising experience for the second fund was successful as the firm marked the final close at Rs 515 crore ($68 million) against the original target of Rs 350 crore ($54 million) within nine months. “This demonstrates the pressing need in the market for an alternative investment product with a unique approach,” said Vora. However, the VC firm also faced a drawback in the form of management churn. Founding member and managing partner Japan Vyas left Sixth Sense last year to start his own alternative asset management firm, Roots Ventures. Vyas had also worked with IDFC Securities earlier, and so did Swati Mehra, who is partner at Sixth Sense. “Everyone with years of experience wants to take a shot at entrepreneurship at one point in time. So that is the only reason why he left,” said Vora on Vyas’ resignation. Other venture capital firms such as Sequoia, Matrix, Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures) and SAIF Partners have also seen their share of management exits even as experts stress on the need for team stability in the VC industry.

Future imperfect

Sixth Sense Ventures has been agile on exits, thanks largely to its listed portfolio firms as mentioned above. It also exited hyperlocal logistics company Grab with a two times return on the investment via a strategic deal with Reliance Jio, while it recorded 1.7 times returns from its investment in wedding marketplace Weddingz.in, after it got acquired by budget hospitality firm OYO (https://www.vccircle.com/softbank-backed-oyo-seals-third-buyout-acquires-weddingz-in/). While its portfolio firms from the second fund are still new, Sixth Sense’s early investments from the first fund are shaping up well and could give healthy returns. Leap India, gaming arcade operator Smaaash and speciality food ingredients maker Veeba Food have raised next rounds of funding. “I do believe that there is an extremely vibrant market for secondary (deals) in consumer businesses as that’s the only way to participate in businesses which are in high growth and do not need fresh capital,” noted Vora. Besides, Sixth Sense’s debut investment in Ethos Ltd, a subsidiary of SAIF Partners-backed watch dials maker KDDL Ltd, has tracked healthy revenue growth registering net sales of around 10% at Rs 356.09 crore in the fiscal ended 31 March 2018 after recording negative growth in the previous year. The company also swung to a net profit during the period from consecutive losses in two previous fiscal years. Vora said that the exit momentum will be maintained across the lifecycle of businesses on the back of macroeconomic growth and favourable regulatory framework. He added that Sixth Sense will continue to chase disruptors in the market that are operating in the largest and most sticky consumer categories in India. And while he has stopped making personal investments, he said he has been doing “friend-based” and “non-commercial” investments that are totally outside the purview of Sixth Sense. Whether these investments will replicate the success of the VC firm, only time will tell.

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/fitternity-raises-4m-from-sixth-sense-ventures/69228970 The startup plans to use the fresh capital to scale up its supply base in the top 20 cities and increase offerings in ancillary categories across sports & preventive healthcare. Fitness discovery and booking platform Fitternity has raised $4 million from Sixth Sense Ventures, a consumer-focused domestic venture fund. The Mumbai-based startup had previously raised about $2 million from investors like Exfinity Venture Partners and Saha Fund. The company plans to use the fresh capital to scale up its supply base in the top 20 cities, manage inventory at scale and increase offerings in ancillary categories across sports & preventive healthcare. Founded in 2013 by Neha Motwani and Jayam Vora, Fitternity enables users to discover and book various fitness activities like gyms, fitness classes, yoga, Pilates and Zumba among others. It is currently present in nine cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Hyderabad among others. The company claims that it is relying on technology and data insights of over 10 million customers and over 10,000 Fitness centres, to grow in an asset-light fashion The platform works on a pay-per-session model enabling users to pay only when they work out while offering the flexibility of trying different workouts each time. It also offers memberships for select locations and has partnered with top insurance companies to offer fitness linked insurance premiums. Other players in the Fitness segment include Cure.fit, HealthifyMe, and FitPass. Cure.fit is the most funded startup in the segment, having raised around $170 million until now. Sixth Sense Ventures has so far backed companies in the retail, logistics, services, and consumer products sectors. Some of its investments include Eupheus Learning, JHS Brands, Soothe Healthcare, SaffronStays, Hindustan Foods, Fullife Healthcare, LEAP India, AVG Logistics and MyHealthcare.

https://inc42.com/buzz/sixth-sense-ventures-fitness-discovery-startup-fitternity/  

• The startup plans to use the funds to scale up the supply base
• It will also leverage new funds to add offerings across sports and preventive healthcare
• Fitternity serves over 10 Mn users across 10K centres Mumbai-based fitness discovery and booking startup Fitternity has secured $4 Mn in a fresh funding round from consumer-focused venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures. The startup now plans to scale across three major focus areas, including:
• adding offerings in ancillary categories across sports and preventive healthcare
• scaling up the supply base in top 20 cities
• managing inventory at scale Founded in 2014 by Neha Motwani and Jayam Vora, Fitternity is a fitness startup which runs an integrated marketplace for preventive healthcare. Fitternity helps people in discovering health-based destinations. The company has partnered with gyms and health clubs to offer discounts to its customers.“Our business models are seeing great traction on both sides of demand and supply and we aim to scale across three major focus areas – adding offerings in ancillary categories across sports & preventive healthcare, scaling up our supply base in top 20 cities, and managing inventory at scale,” Motwani, founder and CEO, Fitternnity said. The startup has built a tech-enabled platform combining marketplace and subscription model for fitness services which encompass a $4 Bn market in India. On Fitternity, users can book fitness services in real-time across the ‘Fitternity assured’ network of over 4,000 service providers. The company claims to leverage technology and data insights of over 10 Mn customers and over 10K fitness centres. Sixth Sense Ventures believes that Fitternity has pioneered the Pay-Per-Session model, membership portability and dynamic pricing. The fitness startup has also partnered with insurance companies to offer fitness linked insurance premiums, and are replacing outdated gym reimbursements with portable and flexible Fitternity Sessions for leading corporates. Jayam Vora, cofounder and COO said that with robust unit economics in place, the startup is confident to grow its revenue 6X over the next 12 months. Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense, said, “Fitternity is a great fit for Sixth Sense as its business model has perfectly evolved to be relevant to the changing behaviours of the Indian consumer. Their innovative offerings make the platform extremely sticky. Our dream is to see Fitternity evolve to become the Google for discovering fitness, the BookMyShow for buying fitness and akin to a Zomato-Swiggy for consuming fitness.” Fitness Market In India Globally, the fitness marketplaces are effectively cashing upon the hectic and the stretched work schedule of the millennials. However, in India owing to the inherent price-sensitivity, a major part of the community has restricted itself from joining any kind of fitness regimen. It is being discussed widely that preventive healthcare is the need of the hour and fitness is the primary driver. The Indian fitness market is at an inflection point, primed to scale up to $7 Bn by 2022. Apart from Fitternity, other major players who are building a different niche for themselves include Cult.Fit, Growfitter, Book Your Game, Gympik, FitTicket, Fitraq, and FitPass. At present, fitness in India is a $3 Bn market growing at 18%, with only 4% of the market comprising of organised gym chains. Sixth Sense Ventures believes that new fitness regimes such as cross-functional training, Zumba, HIIT, Pilates, kickboxing, etc have very high awareness amongst urban millennials. This is driving demand for mixed fitness routines and variety amongst Indian consumers, they believe.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-inks-maiden-deal-in-the-fitness-space Venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has struck its debut deal in the fitness segment, two people privy to the development told VCCircle. The consumer-focussed venture capital firm has invested $4 million (around Rs 28 crore at current exchange rates) in online fitness discovery platform Fitternity Health E-solution Pvt. Ltd, the people said, asking not to be named. Spokespersons for Sixth Sense Ventures and Fitternity confirmed the development. The company will use the capital to add offerings in ancillary categories across sports and preventive healthcare, further develop its supply base in the top 20 cities and manage inventory at scale, Fitternity's co-founderNeha Motwani said. “Fitternity is a great fit for Sixth Sense as its business model has perfectly evolved to be relevant to the changing behaviours of the Indian consumer,” said Nikhil Vora, founder of the VC firm. Fitternity Health E-solution, which owns fitness discovery portal Fitternity.com, was founded in 2013 by Motwani and Jayam Vora. A management student from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Neha had earlier worked as a consultant at Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon Plc, before starting her own venture. Vora, who is an engineer by education, was previously general manager at Dialhealth, a retail, distribution and e-commerce venture in the health and wellness space. Fitternity helps gyms and fitness studios grow their revenues via a tech-enabled marketplace-cum-subscription platform, where users can purchase sessions or memberships of different fitness programmes, including gym sessions, yoga and Zumba classes. Users can pay per session and can also change their memberships across any of the gyms registered with Fitternity. The company claims its users can get access to sessions at 10,000 fitness centres. The company last raised capital in April last year from new and existing investors. It secured $2 million (Rs 13 crore) from existing investors Saha Fund and Exfinity Venture Partners as well as number of angel investors. Fitternity estimates that the Indian fitness market is a $3-billion market growing at 18% which can be scaled up to $7 billion by 2022. It claims that only 4% of the market comprises of organised gym chains. Sixth Sense Ventures The VC firm was founded in 2014 by Vora, the former managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. It runs two funds—it raised Rs 125 crore for the first fund and had a target corpus of Rs 350 crore for the second fund. The company claimed to have marked the first close of the second fund in March 2018. In its debut deal, it had invested in luxury watch retailer Ethos. From the first fund, it invested in 10 companies such as Cross Roads India Assistance Pvt. Ltd, a roadside assistance provider for cars and two-wheelers; Grab, a Mumbai-based hyperlocal logistics service provider; gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, besides Hindustan Foods and JHS Svendgaard. It exited three investments from its first fund, recording an internal rate of return of 40%. From the second fund, it has invested in seven companies and exited none so far. These include Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells sports nutrition supplements under the brand Fast & Up, AVG Logistics, and Eupheus Learning, which develops textbooks and their digitised versions to integrate class and home learning.

Fitternity, India's leading fitness discovery and booking platform, has raised ~USD 4 million from Sixth Sense Ventures, India’s first consumer centric domestic venture fund. Using technology and data insights of over 10 million customers and over 10,000 Fitness centres, Fitternity is controlling the P&L of Gyms/Fitness studios to exponentially grow their revenues in an asset-light fashion. Disrupting the fitness industry to cater to the mindful, health-conscious evolution of consumers, Fitternity is perfectly aligned with Sixth Sense's investment philosophy of Investing in the Consumer of Tomorrow...today!! Fitternity has pioneered the Pay-Per-Session model, membership portability and dynamic pricing - addressing the fear of wasted long-term memberships and need for variety. This will not just drive penetration, but also increase yield for fitness centres. Fitternity is in sweet-spot to pre-empt fitness consumption across demographics and geographies. Furthermore, Fitternity is revolutionising health insurance and employee wellness incorporates. They have already partnered with top insurance companies to offer fitness linked insurance premiums, and are replacing outdated gym reimbursements with portable and flexible Fitternity Sessions for leading corporates. India has the second largest occurrence of diabetes, has the third largest population of obese women and 10 million heart patients are below 40 years. Preventive healthcare is the need of the hour and fitness is the primary driver. The Indian Fitness market is at an inflection point, primed to scale up to USD 7 billion by 2022 and we believe Fitternity is at the driver's seat! Currently, Fitness in India is a USD 3 billion market growing at 18%, with only 4% of the market comprising of organised gym chains, 96% is long-tail. New fitness regimes such as, cross-functional training, Zumba, HIIT, Pilates, kickboxing, etc have very high awareness amongst urban millennials. This is driving demand for mixed fitness routines and variety amongst Indian consumers. Fitternity was founded in 2013 by first-generation entrepreneurs, Neha Motwani, a management graduate and consultant and Jayam Vora, an engineer and Healthcare specialist. "We are really excited to partner with Sixth Sense. Nikhil Vora and team's expertise and network across the consumer space will enhance and accelerate our growth and ability to achieve our larger vision. Our business models are seeing great traction on both sides of demand and supply and we aim to scale across three major focus areas – adding offerings in ancillary categories across sports & preventive healthcare, scaling up our supply base in top 20 cities, and managing inventory at scale." – stated Neha, founder and CEO, Fitternity. "We have a deep understanding of the pain points of consumers in their fitness journey and through innovative offerings across a strong network of gyms / studios we aim to provide an optimal solution to our customers across their wellness lifecycle. With robust unit economics in place we are very confident to grow our revenue 6X over the next 12 months. We have benefited immensely with Nikhil’s inputs over the last few years. Having the opportunity to scale up Fitternity alongside the Sixth Sense team is truly exciting", adds Jayam, cofounder and COO. Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense, says, "Fitternity is a great fit for Sixth Sense as its business model has perfectly evolved to be relevant to the changing behaviours of the Indian consumer. Their innovative offerings make the platform extremely sticky. I've known Neha and Jayam for a while and is heartening to see them evolve over the years and build a strong team as they become leaders in the fitness space. Our dream is to see Fitternity evolve to become the Google for discovering fitness, the BookMyShow for buying fitness and akin to a Zomato-Swiggy for consuming fitness." Sixth Sense Ventures is India’s first domestic, consumer-focused venture fund that is Investing in the consumer of tomorrow…Today! Sixth Sense's first fund, Sixth Sense India Opportunities I (SSIO-I) closed in 2016 and the entire corpus of Rs.118Cr. was invested in 10 companies across the consumer value chain. SSIO-I is already at 2.3X (44% IRR), and with 4 exits already completed Sixth Sense has achieved a rare feat of possibly being the first VC fund in India to return capital back to its investors within 3 years! Their second fund, SSIO-II, closed at Rs.515Cr., more than double our target corpus of Rs.250Cr. on the back of enthusiastic investor interest. They achieved this feat in a record 9 months, despite the volatility in the markets. Sixth Sense Ventures was awarded Fundraiser of the Year 2018 - Venture Capital at the Annual VCCircle Awards. With 9 investments already done, Fitternity will be the tenth investment from SSIO-II. Sixth Sense's other investments include, Eupheus Learning, JHS Brands, Soothe Healthcare, SaffronStays, Hindustan Foods, Fullife Healthcare, LEAP India, AVG Logistics and MyHealthcare.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-strikes-debut-deal-in-health-tech-space Venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has invested $3 million (nearly Rs 21 crore at current exchange rates) in InnoCirc Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates a digitally integrated technology platform called MyHealthcare. The transaction is part of the Gurugram-based health-tech company’s Series A funding round, it said in a statement. Last year, MyHealthcare raised $2 million in a round led by early-stage investment firm Hunch Ventures. MyHealthcare offers services such as electronic medical records (EMR), health trackers, emergency services, video consultations and health monitoring. It acts as a technology partner for hospitals for their patient-facing services. Fortis Healthcare, Medanta the Medicity and Cygnus Hospitals are among its clients. After India, the company now plans to expand its services to Southeast Asia, including in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar. “Our endeavour is to build the digital healthcare delivery protocols in partnership with the best hospitals in the private health sector and work towards enhancement of primary and secondary public healthcare needs in partnership with national and state governments,” said Shyatto Raha, CEO of MyHealthcare. Incorporated in October 2017, InnoCirc Ventures was founded by Raha, Aneesh Nair and Divya Laroyia. MyHealthcare’s hospital enterprise collaboration platform, called MyHealthcare SPINE, integrates into various systems at a hospital such as the Hospital Information System, EMR and its pharmacy. It offers user-friendly digital platforms for its doctors, nurses, paramedics and patients. Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures, said MyHealthcare has improved commercials for hospitals and healthcare providers, and enhanced customer experience. Also, it runs on a transaction-oriented sustainable business model, he said. The company claims that it is in the process of closing the remainder of its Series A funding round over the next few months. Private wealth management firm Client Associates Investment Banking served as the financial adviser to MyHealthcare for this transaction. Sixth Sense’s investments The consumer-focussed venture capital firm was founded in 2014 by Vora, the former managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. It runs two funds—it raised Rs 125 crore for the first fund and had a target corpus of Rs 350 crore for the second fund. The company claimed to have marked the first close of the second fund in March 2018. In its debut deal, it had invested in luxury watch retailer Ethos. From the first fund, it invested in 10 companies such as Cross Roads India Assistance Pvt. Ltd, a roadside assistance provider for cars and two-wheelers; media group NDTV's e-commerce venture Gadgets360; Grab, a Mumbai-based hyperlocal logistics service provider; gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, besides Hindustan Foods and JHS Svendgaard. From its first fund, it has made Sixth exited three investments, recording an internal rate of return of 40%. From the second fund, it has invested in seven companies and exited none so far. These include Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells sports nutrition supplements under the brand Fast & Up, AVG Logistics, and Eupheus Learning, which develops textbooks and their digitised versions to integrate class and home learning.