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Mumbai, 27th February, 2019 Sixth Sense Ventures' second fund, SSIO II has committed to invest around Rs.30Cr. (subject to regulatory and shareholders approvals) in Hindustan Foods Limited, leading to its stake to be around 17% (along with SSIO-I). Sixth Sense's investment further bolsters its philosophy of backing first-generation entrepreneurs operating in large consumer categories. Sixth Sense had first invested in Hindustan Foods in December 2016 when the company's FY17 revenues were at Rs.37Cr. HFL has since grown manifold with a clear visibility of hitting the Rs.1,000Cr.+ revenue milestone by FY20. Sixth Sense believes that manufacturing will be extensively outsourced by FMCG companies, while they focus solely on brand innovation and distribution. Hindustan Foods, amongst the very few relevant leading contract manufacturers, is perfectly geared to capture this burgeoning demand. Through its unparalleled and customised manufacturing solutions delivering superior efficiency, HFL has already managed to be a significant partner with Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, GSK, Danone, Marico, U.S. Polo, Steve Madden and others to manufacture Home Care, Personal Care, Foods, Beverages etc for them. "With a strong vision for the future, a partner with a thorough understanding of consumer markets is essential to fund future growth (organic and inorganic), and Sixth Sense is just that. We are thrilled to have Nikhil Vora repose trust in us once again and sharing our vision", said Sameer Kothari, MD of Hindustan Foods. Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense says, "Our partnership with Sameer and Hindustan Foods started almost 3 years back. I am elated to see the journey and path that HFL has set for itself. Our belief that Consumer Manufacturing, a USD 35B space, will over the coming years become a Consumer Outsourcing opportunity of USD 7B+, seems to be a reality. HFL, to us will be amongst the most relevant players in this space, with the capability to become India's largest contract manufacturer. I will be surprised if HFL does not become a USD 1B company over the next 5 years! Extremely pleased to continue to be part of HFL and wish Sameer and team the very best as the company becomes the premier consumer contracting player in our country”.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-hikes-stake-in-listed-portfolio-firm/ Venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has pumped more money into a listed company in its portfolio. The VC firm has picked up an additional 2.2% stake for Rs. 1.3 crore in AVG Logistics Ltd, taking its total holding to 14.5%. Sixth Sense Ventures purchased an additional 171,600 shares in the third-party logistics services provider at Rs. 75.19 each. Sixth Sense founder Nikhil Vora told VCCircle that it was a "notable bulk deal". The investment was made through the firm’s second fund — Sixth Sense India Opportunities II. In March, Sixth Sense Ventures had come in as the sole anchor investor in AVG Logistics’ initial public offering with an investment of Rs. 9.41 crore and thereafter picked up more shares. Its initial share purchase was at Rs. 107 each for an 11% stake. AVG Logistics is listed on NSE Emerge, the stock exchange’s platform for small and medium enterprises. The consumer-focussed venture capital firm had increased its shareholding to 12.3% in October to average out its higher initial cost of acquisition after a market correction dragged AVG Logistics’ shares lower. The company’s share price shot up 40-50% a few days after the listing in April, but has slid sharply over the past couple of months. AVG shares were trading at Rs. 80 apiece in early trade on Wednesday, nearly half its share price in late-April. AVG Logistics Founded in 2010, Delhi-based AVG Logistics offers transportation, warehousing and value-added services. The company runs warehouses in Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Delhi and Panipat across a total area of 3.5 lakh sq ft. It has 49 branches across the country. The company made a net profit of Rs. 12 crore on revenue of Rs. 225 crore for the financial year 2017-18. Sixth Sense Ventures The VC firm is looking to raise around $50 million for its second fund and plans to invest in 12-15 companies. In March, the fund made its debut investment in Eupheus Learning. The education company develops textbooks and their digitised versions to integrate class and home learning. In June, the fund had invested around Rs. 10-15 crore ($1.4-2 million) for a 10% stake in Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells sports nutrition supplements under the brand Fast & Up. In July, VCCircle reported that Sixth Sense Ventures had invested in micro-hospitality startup SaffronStays. Sixth Sense Ventures had raised Rs 125 crore in its first fund. It backed 10 companies, including gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Hindustan Foods Ltd, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt. Ltd and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/alpha-chasers-go-extra-mile-to-tap-indian-hnis-play-capital/articleshow/66919424.cms NEW DELHI: As the traditional market gets increasingly regimented amid stiff regulations, alternative asset classes are picking up fast, both in terms of asset under management and wealth creation. For the wealthy investors today, if you are not growing at a compounded 20-30 per cent annually, it is not considered good, says Jaideep Hansraj, CEO for Wealth Management and Priority Banking, Kotak Mahindra BankNSE 0.92 %. He was speaking at a panel discussion at the ETMarkets Global Summit , 2018. Hansraj, who said his company has experimented a lot with wealth management products over the past 3-4 years, has seen considerable growth in this segment. Clients largely like to keep things simple with large portion of portfolio in equity and debt, but they also like to keep play capital with which they experiment to take riskier bets. Over the last few years, there has been a huge influx of alternatives,” he said. Andrew Holland, CEO of Avendus Capital and the man who runs India’s largest hedge fund, said it used to be either debt or equity fund earlier, but things have changed. "It is getting difficult for mutual funds to outperform each other. And investors are looking for long-term investment opportunity.” Holland says he has a rather traditional approach to asset selection and staying ethical is as important a theme for him as are sustainability and good governance. Shahzad Madon, Head of PMS and AIF at Reliance AMC, said the search for alpha is driving people towards PMS, which is already growing mainstream. “Our sense is that while the mutual fund industry would grow, the PMS space will grow too.” However, he insisted that the alternative investment space does not have to become bigger than the MF space. “The focus should be on alpha generation, not on beating anyone else,” he said. Asked specifically if the alpha creation opportunity in the Indian market has shifted to the pre-listing space, Karan Bhagat, Founder, IIFL Investment Managers, begged to differ. “The prelisting stage doesn't mean a company is low in valuation. Investors seek high returns because liquidity is higher at the prelisting stage,” he said. Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO at Sixth Sense Ventures, said the only way to make money is to invest in the India of tomorrow. He said Indian investors lose money largely because they hold capital. “If you don't get your breadth of investment right, then you need to worry," he said. Vora whose venture capital fund invests primarily in the consumer oriented startups, firmly believes the leaders of today will not necessarily be the leaders of tomorrow. As many as 95 per cent leaders of today will die in a decade.” India is the most underpenetrated brand market where brand loyalty is falling and awareness is rising. Risk to experiment is much lower than before, he said. “You have a plank on innovation or disruption. Not sure India is for innovation,” Vora observed. Kunal Upadhyay, Managing Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund, said early stage investment is tough as a lot of innovation and disruptions happen there constantly.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/etmgs-95-of-leaders-today-will-die-down-in-10-years-invest-in-leaders-of-tomorrow/articleshow/66879446.cms NEW DELHI: Alternate investment funds (AIFs) are no longer alternatives. They are going mainstream as high net worth individuals (HNIs) hunt for higher alpha. Investments in such avenues read close to Rs. 1 lakh crore since 2012 while mutual funds have received Rs. 9 lakh crore. Of late, tide is turning and the AIF space is growing at an unparalleled pace. Speaking at the second edition of ETMarkets Global Summit, leading wealth and hedge fund managers said there is enough space for services such as hedge funds, PMS (Portfolio Management Services) and venture funds to grow along with the mutual fund industry. All that matters is alpha generation. PMS discretionary growth has been 50 per cent on a yearly basis, said Shahzad Madan, Head of PMS and AIF at Reliance AMC. The search for alpha is driving people towards PMS. “Our sense is while mutual fund industry would grow, PMS space will also grow. Alternative investment space does not have to become bigger than MF space. Focus should on generation of alpha and returns,” Madan said. This is what is driving people moving towards PMS space, he said. The expectation wealthy clients have from AIF managers is that if you are not growing at 20-30 per cent compounded annually, it is not considered good, said Jaideep Hansraj, CEO for Wealth Management and Priority Banking, Kotak Mahindra BankNSE -2.62 %. Hansraj, whose company has experimented with wealth management products over the last 3-4 years, has seen considerable growth in this segment. According to Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital, one of India’s largest hedge funds, it used to be either debt or equity fund earlier, but things have changed. "It is getting difficult for MFs to outperform each other," he said, whose fund grew 6 per cent in the last one year. “Investors are looking for long term investment opportunity.” Staying ethical, sustainability and governance are the theme to follow, Holland stressed. Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO at Sixth Sense Ventures, hit the nail on the head when he said the only way to make money is to invest in India of tomorrow. But why do investors lose money? It's because they hold the capital, he put it straight. Vora has good reasons why he believes so. "He started his venture fund to invest in leaders of tomorrow. The leaders of today are not necessarily the leaders of tomorrow. If you don't get your breadth of investment right, then you need to worry," he cautioned. “95 per cent leaders of today will die down in a decade.” India is the most underpenetrated brand market where brand loyalty is falling and awareness is rising. Risk to experiment is much lower than before, he went on to say. “You have a plank on innovation or disruption. Not sure India is for innovation,” Vora observed. Karan Bhagat, Founder, IIFL Investment Managers, made an interesting point, saying prelisting stage doesn't mean that a company is low in valuation. Investors seek high returns because liquidity is higher in prelisting stage, he pointed out. Kunal Upadhyay, Managing Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund, said early stage investment is tough as a lot of innovation is expected. Hansraj also spoke of retail investors putting a premium on future growth potential whatever the IPO pricing is.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/sixth-sense-ventures-increases-size-of-second-fund-on-rising-interest-close-at-rs-500-crore/articleshow/66448929.cms MUMBAI: Early-stage consumer-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has closed its second fund at Rs. 500 crore in just 10 months since launch. It had originally set out to raise Rs. 250 crore for the fund, with a greenshoe option of an additional Rs. 100 crore, but unprecedented interest in the space saw the venture capital firm go back to the market regulator seeking to expand the size of the fund. Sixth Sense Ventures’ second fund counts the Ministry of Commerce as its anchor investor, with an investment of Rs. 50 crore into the fund. The fund has raised capital also from several marquee consumer companies, Indian pharma companies, family offices, and wealthy individuals. “We are one of the very few venture capital firms to have a 0% management fee structure for our second fund, which means we won’t charge our investors (limited partners) if we don’t make money for them,” chief executive Nikhil Vora told ET. “Since April, we have made six investments from the second fund and will close another two by the end of the year.” The firm has deployed about one-third of the fund’s capital so far this year. India’s consumer brand space has seen heightened interest with even non-consumer focussed investors doubling down on the space. This year, early-stage consumer-focussed funds Fireside Ventures and Saama Capital too have raised capital, with corpuses of Rs. 340 crore and $100 million (about Rs. 7,300 crore at current exchange rate), respectively. Sixth Sense Ventures is looking to invest across 15-20 companies through the life of its 7-year fund at the pre-series A and Series A stages, with an average investment of Rs. 15-20 crore in each portfolio company. The firm is also open to widening the scope of investment to Rs. 30 crore in the case of outliers. “Any business that has a long curve on the customer, i.e., stickiness, will be an area of interest. Consumer companies, where the lean on a consumer is long and the ability to disrupt that market is huge, are what we are excited about,” said Vora. To this effect, Sixth Sense is looking to invest in areas such as education, consumer contracting and contract manufacturing. It counts ed-tech firm Eupheus Learning,supply chain solutions company LEAP, and holiday accommodation firm Saffron Stays among its investments from the second fund. For the second fund, Sixth Sense is looking to set aside about 20% of the corpus, or Rs. 100 crore, for follow-on investments and another 20% for publicly listed companies. Sixth Sense Ventures said it has deployed its entire first fund of Rs. 120 crore across 10 companies and garnered an internal rate of return (IRR) of 45%. The first fund is likely to return all the capital to its investors by March, four years ahead of its planned timeline, according to the company.

https://inc42.com/buzz/sixth-sense-ventures-closes-its-second-fund-at-67-7-mn/ Mumbai-based venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures has closed at $67.7 Mn (INR 500 Cr) for its second fund which was launched 10 months back. The Ministry of Commerce is the anchor investor of the second fund of the firm with an investment of $6.7 Mn (INR 50 Cr). It has also raised capital from others including marquee consumer companies, Indian pharma companies, family offices, and individual investors. According to reports, the early age venture capital firm had originally planned to raise $33.8 Mn (INR 250 Cr) with an additional greenshoe option of $13.5 Mn (INR 100 Cr). However with rising interest in this space, the firm had to request the market regulator the increase the size of the fund. According to the capitalist firm, it is planning to focus in areas such as education, consumer contracting and contract manufacturing. It also announced that the first fund which had been invested in companies such as Ethos watches, Soothe Healthcare, Hindustan Food Limited among others, is likely to give returns to the investors by March next year. Sixth Sense Ventures has deployed its entire first fund corpus of $16.2 Mn (INR 120 Cr) across 10 companies and has collected an internal rate of return (IRR) of 45%. Sixth Sense Ventures which was founded in 2014 by Nikhil Vora is planning to use about 20% of the second fund or $13.5 Mn (INR 100 Cr) on follow-on investments while keep aside another 20% for publicly listed companies. Till now, the firm has used the second fund to invest in edtech startup Eupheus Learning, supply chain solutions provider LEAP, and holiday accommodation platform Saffron Stays.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-invests-more-in-ed-tech-firm-eupheus-learning/ Education technology firm Eupheus Learning has raised an undisclosed sum from consumer-focused venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures a report in a financial daily said. This is the second time that Sixth Sense is investing in the Delhi-based company. In March this year, the fund put in money in the firm and picked up a significant minority stake. With the current investment round, Eupheus Learning has received total funding worth Rs 15-18 crore, with Sixth Sense’s stake in it increasing to 44%, The Economic Times reported. Email queries sent to Eupheus Learning and Sixth Sense Ventures did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this report. Run by Proficiency Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, the ed-tech venture was founded in 2017 by Sarveshwar Shrivastava, Rohit Dhar, Ved Prakash Khatri and Amit Kapoor. The co-founders all previously worked at education company Encyclopaedia Britannica and set up Eupheus Learning by investing their own capital. The startup creates textbooks in 10 subjects—English, Maths, general knowledge, environmental science and others—for students of classes one to eight and digitises them. It offers its service to schools on a subscription-based model. It claims to have presence in over 1,500 schools, including Narayana Group of Educational Institutions, GD Goenka Group and Delhi Public School Society. To boost its presence in the K-12 learning space, the startup has tied up with several global institutions such as World Book Inc., RoboGarden Inc., Sanako, Fiction Express and Primo Toys. Sixth Sense Ventures Founded by Nikhil Vora, the VC firm was looking to raise around $54 million (about Rs 350 crore) from its second fund and planned to mark the first close in March this year. It will deploy money in 12-15 companies from Fund-II. Besides Eupheus Learning, the company’s other investments from its second fund include third-party logistics provider AVG Logistics and sports nutrition firm Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells products under the brand Fast & Up. The VC firm’s first fund had raised Rs 125 crore and had backed 10 companies, including gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Hindustan Foods Ltd, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt. Ltd and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab. Deals in the space The ed-tech sector has attracted considerable investor attention over the past few months. This month, TechCircle reported that Mumbai-based test preparation platform for students Toppr was close to raising $20 million (Rs 147 crore) from its existing investors. Last week, online learning platform Unacademy acquired Jaipur-based online education and career portal WiFiStudy. In June, the startup had raised $21 million (Rs 144 crore) from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and SAIF Partners. Last month, a media report stated that Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, which operates ed-tech unicorn Byju’s, had raised $100 million from growth equity firm General Atlantic at a valuation of $2 billion. In the same month, Jaipur-based experiential learning startup SRJNA raised an undisclosed amount from social-impact investor Gray Matters Capital’s edLABS initiative, angel network Keiretsu Forum and SucSEED Venture Partners. Despite growing investor interest in the space, a recent TechCircle analysis showed that scalability, profitability and unit economics remain challenges for ed-tech startups.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/sixth-sense-ventures-makes-undisclosed-investment-in-edutech-firm-eupheus-learning/articleshow/66405570.cms Early stage consumer focussed venture capital fund Sixth Sense Ventures has made an undisclosed investment in edutech firm Eupheus Learning. Sixth Sense Ventures had first invested in the firm in March this year. With this, the total investment by the fund in Eupheus is pegged at between Rs 15-18 crore with Sixth Sense now owning about 44% in the edu-tech firm, making it one of the largest stake ownership deals for the venture capital firm so far. Eupheus Learning - a curriculum based content platform was founded in May 2017 and was the first investment from Sixth Sense's second fund made earlier this year. Eupheus Learning attempts to bridge the gap between in-school and at-home learning by providing end-to-end education solutions to students through its portfolio of curriculum solutions, reference books and at-home digital solutions. It offers pedagogically differentiated, technology-driven solutions in the K-12 space. Eupheus has partnered with publishers and edu tech firms to provide differentiated solutions across over 1500 ICSE and CBSE board schools in India including Narayana Group of Educational Institutions, GD Goenka Group, and Delhi Public School Society amongst others. “Eupheus is amongst the most sticky edu-tech platforms for customers since the content is part of the existing curriculum. They've also signed up to bring high quality global programs to Indian schools such as an exclusive partnership with TOEFL to be made available across grades and boards,” said Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures. Eupheus’ monetisation model is typically two-fold, charging the schools for its program or a model that involves monetisation through retail distribution. The firm ended FY18 with Rs 22 crore in revenues and is on track to end FY19 at over Rs 75 crore in revenues. EupheusLearning which counts the NCR-Delhi belt as one its hottest markets in India, is also looking to expand its program reach to over 4000 schools across the country by March next year.

https://www.vccircle.com/softbank-backed-oyo-seals-third-buyout-acquires-weddingz-in/ Budget hospitality chain OYO has acquired Mumbai-based Weddingz.in, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors, for an undisclosed sum, a company statement said. The acquisition will mark OYO’s entry into the fragmented $40-billion wedding industry and will complement the firm’s core offerings, Maninder Gulati, chief strategy officer at the hotel aggregator, said in the statement. “The company has a healthy scale of managing 1,500-plus wedding events per quarter, with an inventory size of over 40 banquets spread across Mumbai and Delhi,” Gulati added. The entire 200-member team of Weddingz.in will become part of OYO, a spokesperson for the budget hotel aggregator said. The deal was a mix of cash and stock, the person added. The acquisition of Weddingz.in marks OYO’s third such buyout this year. Last month, it had bought Mumbai-based Internet of Things (IoT) technology company AblePlus Solutions Pvt. Ltd to bolster its technology portfolio. In March, OYO had acquired its first company, Chennai-headquartered service apartment company Novascotia Boutique Homes. Weddindgz.in Operated by L-Fast Brands Pvt. Ltd, Weddingz.in was launched in January 2015 by Sandeep Lodha. Its technology platform allowed users to find and book wedding planning services at the best prices. It provided wedding venue recommendations and also connected users with wedding service providers such as photographers, makeup and mehendi artists and planners. It started its operations in Mumbai and is now present in more than 12 cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru and Goa. In January last year, VCCircle had reported it had raised nearly $1 million (Rs 6.8 crore) from Singularity Ventures. Existing investor consumer-centric venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures also participated in that round. In February 2016, the company had raised pre-Series A funding from Sixth Sense Ventures. In December 2015, it had raised $1 million in angel funding from a group of investors, including Google India's managing director Rajan Anandan, film-makers Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Ruchi Narain, fashion designer Ritu Kumar's son Amrish Kumar, and Ambit Private Wealth CEO Hrishikesh Parandekar. OYO’s expansion drive For OYO, the latest deal comes at a time when it has ventured into new overseas markets including China, where it has a 1,000-strong hotel strong chain. It had launched operations in the country in November 2017. Last month, online media publication Entrackr had reported that OYO had entered London. It had expanded into Malaysia in 2016 and Nepal in 2017. In India, OYO has a hotel chain comprising 100,000 exclusive rooms. Between January and June 2018, OYO’s India operations clocked 17 million booked rooms per night with new launches in cities like Kota, Mathura, Vrindavan, Kolhapur, Bareilly and Thekkady, the company claimed. Multiple media reports in recent times have stated that OYO, which counts SoftBank as one of its main investors, is in the process of raising between $300 million and $800 million, which would value the firm at $2 billion. However, TechCircle could not independently verify this. OYO last secured funds in April 2017, when it raised $250 million (Rs 1,612 crore) in a round led by existing investor SoftBank Group along with the participation of Lightspeed Venture Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Greenoaks Capital. Media reports had pegged its valuation at $850 million then.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/oyo-acquires-wedding-marketplace-weddingz/articleshow/65361237.cms Hospitality company OYO has acquired Weddingz, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors, in a cash -and­-stock deal, making it the SoftBank­-backed company’s third buyout in six months. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “We look at supply—whether it’s hotels, homes or banquets— and are always interested in companies that have it and operate in a very similar manner to OYO,” said Maninder Gulati, chief strategy officer at OYO. “The technology and distribution capabilities are the other two critical areas for us when we look at potential acquisitions, and Weddingz fit the bill on all three.” Gurgaon headquartered OYO has acquired a 100% stake in the three-year-­old Mumbai-based startup that counts early­-stage venture capital firms Singularity Ventures and Sixth Sense Ventures as well as Google India Managing Director Rajan Anandan among its backers. Gulati did not disclose the returns earned by the two investment firms post their exits from Weddingz. Weddingz was founded in 2015 by former IIT­Delhi and Wharton School alum Sandeep Lodha. Gulati said OYO will not rebrand Weddingz and that it has absorbed the company’s entire workforce of about 200 employees. “They have a great presence and brand call. What we want is, other entrepreneurs operating in areas that are of interest to us, to approach us and build and innovate with us,” Gulati said.