Category: Sixth Sense Ventures

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.financialexpress.com/industry/consumer-businesses-are-potentially-disruptive-not-innovative-says-founder-and-ceo-of-sixth-sense-ventures/1267870/ Sixth Sense Ventures, which is in the process of raising Rs. 350 crore for its second fund, SSIO-II, believes consumer-centric companies will increasingly be the disruptors. Sixth Sense Ventures, which is in the process of raising Rs. 350 crore for its second fund, SSIO-II, believes consumer-centric companies will increasingly be the disruptors. SSV founder and CEO Nikhil Vora tells FE’s Bhavik Nair that newer players continue to capture a disproportionate share of the growth. Excerpts: Many young entrepreneurs are taking on established players… The potential to disrupt is huge because the consumer business in India has been very static for the last 50-70 years. That is why the bigger companies grew larger; not because of their brands but on the back of the distribution strength. This is now being dismantled with distribution channels opening up and you will see many new brands which now have shelf space. We see a lot of hyper competition in the consumer branded space over the next 5-10 years. It’s happening in various categories such as liquor, dips and sauces, foods, personal care. All consumer companies work on a minimum 35-40% return on net worth, a very high return. Everyone works on an operating margin of 20%-plus. We have seen many disruptions in IT. How do you see that in the consumer-centric space? What you see in tech businesses are not so much of a disruption, but innovations. However, consumer businesses are potentially disruptive and not innovative. A Fogg was not an innovation but they disrupted the deodrant category. A Go Cheese was not a disruption in the value-added dairy category; they got shelf space against an Amul on one side and a Nestle on the other side, which I think was a disruptive element. So, I think you will see a lot more brand disruptions happen and the challenge for leaders is that they hate to create disruptions on their own. While the leaders will continue to grow, thanks to the entire size of the market, there is also a disproportionately larger growth that is getting captured by the newer players. You are saying: “You only require capital twice!” Does that stand true even now? Completely true! In all my years in the consumer space, I haven’t generally seen a business in the consumer domain which requires perpetual funding. If the businesses grow, they won’t require capital again. The moment a business gets funded on its own, there are enough cashflows to support its existing businesses. There are very few consumer businesses which in their life-cycle journey will require capital. You look at any listed consumer company in this country, not a single company would have raised capital. That is true even for private companies which have scaled up. How are you so convinced about SaffronStays in the micro-hospitality segment when there is an Airbnb out there? There are two things when we looked at investing in SaffronStays. One is this premise that property seduces. Everyone who has excess capital possibly has a second home somewhere. While they buy the second home, it is not a yield-generating asset and it is not even being properly maintained and used. What SaffronStays does is it to take all these properties and give them a premium look and feel. We have been able to manage close to 50 bungalows and we think it will become 500 in three years. We believe that people want to travel in groups. The ability to standardise the locations and create a premium feel and at some stage soon, create a membership model is something that we are excited about. Are valuations as high in the private space as they are in the listed consumer space? First, we have to understand why the consumer businesses are expensive. Fundamentally, consumer businesses get funded only twice — at seed stage and at growth stage. If it requires funding a third time, it is not a consumer business. When a business’s requirement of capital is only twice in its life cycle, it becomes a seller’s market because it is not in any desperation to raise capital. Consumer companies don’t require capital after a certain level of growth. If they don’t require capital, then the only way for a potential investor to buy into a consumer company is to buy out an existing investor or put in the value at a much higher level. Therefore, the value of these businesses becomes expensive. As far as the private space is concerned, the valuation is almost similar compared to the listed space. Sometimes, a sheer scarcity premium makes the private space a bit more expensive.

https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sixth-sense-ventures-expects-to-raise-rs-100-cr-in-next-two-months-for-its-second-fund/1266471/ Sixth Sense Ventures, a consumer-centric venture fund founded by Nikhil Vora, former managing director at IDFC Securities, is expecting to raise `100 crore in the next two months for its second fund, named SSIO-II, which has a size of Rs. 350 crore. The fund has already received commitments worth Rs. 250 crore so far. “We have already received commitments worth Rs. 250 crore from almost 70 investors. We will hit Rs. 350 crore in the next two months. We are just three months into it right now and we have done six investments. By August, we would have invested Rs. 75 crore,” said Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures. The SSIO-II fund, which will have an average investment ticket in the range of Rs. 15-20 crore, is looking to make investments in 14-15 different firms, of which six have already received investments. These six firms belong to a diverse set of segments like education, logistics, healthcare, oral care, packaging solutions and hospitality. SSIO-II’s latest investment, of $2 million, is in a company named SaffronStays, which curates and manages hospitality operations, reservations, branding and marketing for private vacation homes owned by high net worth individuals (HNIs). Sixth Sense Ventures’ first fund SSIO-I had made investments in 10 companies —two of which are in the listed space while eight are private. The firm claims that 90% of the participants in the maiden fund have also invested in the second fund. SIDBI, which had invested close to Rs. 23 crore in SSIO-I, has committed Rs. 50 crore in the second fund, Vora explained. “In the first fund, SIDBI had the first right on capital and had capped its return at 14% internal rate of return (IRR). In the second fund, SIDBI has committed `50 crore. Here they are not capping their returns. We have exited one investment — JHS Svendgaard Laboratories. This was our smallest investment. We sold it at 7x and that’s how we have returned money to SIDBI,” he told FE. The rest of the investors in the SSIO-I fund will be receiving their money in the next six months, Vora added. SSIO-I, which had a size of Rs. 120 crore and participation from 45 investors, has been closed for investments for almost a year now. Over the next few years, the fund will be focussing on exits, of which the first is likely to come in the next three to four months. “I think there will be at least four to five investments which will be ripe for exit in the next couple of years. I think there will be one large divestment in the next three to four months,” Vora indicated.

https://www.vccircle.com/exclusive-nikhil-vora-led-sixth-sense-ventures-invests-in-micro-hospitality-startup/ Sixth Sense Ventures has struck a new deal in the country’s growing micro- hospitality sector, Nikhil Vora, founder of the consumer sector- focussed venture capital firm told VCCircle. The VC firm has invested in SaffronStays, Vora said without disclosing the investment amount. However, a person close to the transaction said that the deal value was $2 million. The company will use the funds to boost its growth, hire talent, and expand its inventory in a growing micro-hospitality industry that could be pegged at $40 billion, said Vora. SaffronStays, which was launched by Devendra Parulekar and Tejas Parulekar in 2015, curates and manages hospitality operations, reservations, branding and marketing for private vacation homes owned by high-net-worth individuals (HNIs). The company currently operates 45 homes across six states in the country and hosts over 1,500 guests every month. SaffronStays has expanded from five employees to 22 in two years and has also trained over 150 caretakers, supervisors, managers, and housekeeping staff members across the country, with a dedicated training centre in Ulwe, Maharashtra. “Sixth Sense Ventures’ experience with consumer-facing businesses is something we will heavily lean on in our next growth stage,” said Tejas, co-founder, SaffronStays. The premium homestay market in India is expected to grow as Indian travellers are on the cusp of becoming experiential and demanding by looking for unique travel experiences, said Vora. “Weekend plans to de-stress and bond with families and friends have been largely trending in cities, and premium homestays located within 3 hours from city limits make for the most preferred short holiday destinations,” added Vora. Homestays have become an alternative to hotels for travellers and large online hotel aggregators such as MakeMyTrip and Yatra have entered this space. The sector has also seen challenges as last year the shutdown of homestay aggregator Stayzilla, once touted as India’s Airbnb and backed by venture capital firms Nexus and Matrix Partners, triggered discussions on the pointless pursuit of discounts-based growth over unit economics and the rat race of valuations. Sixth Sense Ventures The VC firm’s first fund had a corpus of Rs 125 crore with investments in 10 companies. These include gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd; Hindustan Foods Ltd, which makes PepsiCo Inc.’s Kurkure snack brand; oral care products company JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab. The second fund has a target corpus of Rs 350 crore ($54 million) and was aiming to mark the first close by March this year. Sixth Sense made two investments from its second fund in March – AVG Logistics and Eupheus Learning. Last month, the VC firm marked its foray into the healthcare sector by investing in Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which sells sports nutrition supplements under the brand Fast & Up. Vora also invests in his personal capacity. His most recent bet was in a Mumbai-based specialty food ingredients maker. Some of his other investments include glitter-powder maker Advance Syntex Ltd; Fogg deodorant maker Vini Cosmetics; sanitary napkins maker Soothe Healthcare; sports-focussed digital display solutions firm Technology Frontiers; and aircraft maintenance and repair company AirWorks, to name a few. Vora was also an early investor in One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of digital wallet firm Paytm. He sold his stake in One97 to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in May last year, reaping almost 75-fold gains. Around the same time, he exited Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd when it was acquired by EuroKids International Pvt. Ltd

https://www.vccircle.com/exclusive-sixth-senses-nikhil-vora-backs-gourmet-food-maker/ Nikhil Vora, founder of consumer sector-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures, has invested in a Mumbai-based specialty food ingredients maker, a person privy to the development told VCCircle. Vora has invested an undisclosed amount in in Saucery Foods Pvt. Ltd, the person said, asking not to be named. The company offers a variety of spreads, dips and sauces under the Saucery brand. More financial details of the deal couldn’t be ascertained. The company was launched in 2015 by Gayatri Bhatia, who worked with consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever Ltd before starting the venture. The company claims its products are free from chemicals, preservatives, artificial flavouring or taste-enhancers. The brand has presence in modern trade stores in Mumbai including Nature’s Basket, Hypercity and Foodhall. Spice Route Legal acted as the legal adviser to the company for the transaction, the person cited above said. Email queries sent to Vora, Saucery and Spice Route Legal did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this report. Vora’s previous bets Vora recently invested in his personal capacity in Gujarat-based Advance Syntex Ltd, which operates under the brand name Midas Glitter. He was an early investor in One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of digital wallet firm Paytm. He sold his stake in One97 to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in May last year, reaping almost 75-fold gains. Around the same time, Vora also exited Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd when the operator of pre-schools and K-12 schools was acquired by EuroKids International Pvt. Ltd. Vora is also an investor in Fogg deodorant maker Vini Cosmetics, which raised funds from private equity firm WestBridge Capital Partners in September 2017. He has also invested in Noida-based Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, the firm behind Paree brand of sanitary napkins. Besides, Vora has invested in Avigo Capital-backed sports-focussed digital display solutions firm Technology Frontiers and aircraft maintenance and repair company AirWorks, which is backed by private equity firms New Enterprise Associates and GTI Capital. Separately, Vora’s Sixth Sense Ventures struck two investments from its second fund in March – AVG Logistics and Eupheus Learning. The second fund has a target corpus of Rs 350 crore ($54 million) and was aiming to mark the first close by March this year. Sixth Sense’s first fund had a corpus of Rs 125 crore and backed 10 companies. These include gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd; Hindustan Foods Ltd, which makes PepsiCo Inc.’s Kurkure snack brand; oral care products company JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab. Other deals in food sector The packaged food segment, particularly the ready-to-cook category, has seen considerable investor interest in the recent past. Last month, Y-Cook India Pvt Ltd raised $5 million in its Series B round of funding led by Dutch impact fund Oikocredit and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal-backed venture capital firm 021 Capital. Around the same time, US-based private equity firm General Atlantic LLC inked a deal to pick up a majority stake in a Mumbai-based packaged food products manufacturer, marking its first control transaction in the country. In January, Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia invested Rs 152 crore ($23 million) in Southern Health Foods, which markets its products under the brand ‘Manna Foods’. In October last year, Veeba Foods, another gourmet food maker, had raised over $6 million (Rs 40 crore) in its Series C round of funding led by existing investor Verlinvest, a private Belgian family investment company.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/six-consumption-themes-that-nikhil-vora-is-betting-on#gs.Z26Kq_E India’s consumption market needs disruption as it has remained static for decades because of none to minimal innovation, according to Nikhil Vora, founder of consumer sector-focused investing firm Sixth Sense Ventures. “There is no intellectual property attached to any consumer product, and yet it was symbolised by a duopoly of established brands like Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and ITC Ltd.,” said Vora. The result was that entrepreneurs were too afraid to enter the market as distribution remained controlled, he said. Times are changing fast as the next generation has better risk-taking abilities. The world’s second-most populous nation offers a huge market as a growing economy and rising incomes mean people will consume more. Several smaller companies have come up to challenge entrenched players even as the cash ban and Goods and Services Tax drives formalisation. There is a plethora of options in the back-end space yet to be explored, according to Vora. It’s untapped and considered “non-glamorous and non-sexy” for people to invest capital in. These companies are set to become “large and dominant”, he said. That’s why Sixth Sense invested in oral care products maker JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Ltd. and breakfast cereal maker Hindustan Foods Ltd.—both contract manufacturers. The trick for establishing a brand name lies in identifying pockets that larger players have refrained from investing in, Vora said. Entrepreneurs should also focus on the manufacturing or back-end aspect as brands would usually let go of these as they battle it out with rivals to gain market share, he said. Also, manufacturing is a lower return-on-investment business for players like HUL, ITC and Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd., but a great opportunity for contracting firms, he said. Also Read: Alpha Moguls: How To Play The Great Indian Consumption Story? Here’s Nikhil Vora’s Take Here are the consumer pockets that Vora is bullish on: Dips And Sauces The category remains unexplored by the big brands and thus has ample opportunity for next generation entrepreneurs. Veeba Food Services Pvt., which has a whole range of dips, from mint mayonnaise to garlic chilli spread and a wide variety of salad dressing, has better growth prospects than HUL despite being a lesser known brand, said Vora. Over the next five-ten years, he said, Veeba is poised to evolve as market leaders have nothing to offer in the space. Oral Care It’s a basket where market leaders are omnipresent, he said. Yet, there are nooks that have been left out. Toothpaste and toothbrush brands have nothing to offer for kids, Vora pointed out. There is a complete vacuum on that front, which will eventually gain disproportionate amount of attention over the next few years, he said. Sixth Sense identified the opportunity and invested in JHS Svendgaard. Dairy The dairy industry is a value-added category that doesn’t seem to be present as significantly as it should have been, said Vora. India is naturally endowed with resources and there is a fairly large target audience for dairy products, he said. He cited the example of ‘Go’ milk brand of Parag Milk Foods Ltd. The product has aced top spots in tier-two cities where leaders like Amul and Nestle India Ltd. failed to have as much representation, Vora said. “It’s a category that requires sustenance and will grow disproportionately.” Liquor The liquor industry is still in “extremely early days” of its life cycle, according to Vora. The one key feature in the category is that in India, cigarette businesses are at a multiplier to the liquor. Globally, it’s the opposite. Which means, valuations of cigarette stocks like ITC are higher, leaving enough elbowroom for liquor companies to thrive, he said. “If one wants to buy into social vices, then liquor is a better vice than cigarettes for investors. Liquor still has a long way to go.” Contract Manufacturers In the case of consumer durables, 60 percent of the manufacturing is in-house, while the rest it outsourced, he explained. That 60 percent is also available now as the brands are being getting caught in a brand-battle, he said, adding that it doesn’t offer good returns for larger players but can be a potent source of revenue for contract manufacturers. That’s why Vora invested JHS Svendgaard and Hindustan Foods. E-Commerce And Retail It’s constantly evolving and is set to see a “fantastic run” ahead, both offline and online, according to Vora. It may seem that online retail is taking over offline, a significant alignment of the two is on the cards over the next three-five years, he said. The shades that can already be seen with Walmart Inc. vying for stake in Flipkart Ltd., he said. “This boom makes the space an attractive bet to invest in.”

https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/alpha-moguls-how-to-play-the-great-indian-consumption-story-heres-nikhil-voras-take

Investing in consumption-based companies is all about betting on leaders of tomorrow today. That is Nikhil Vora’s investment philosophy.

The founder of consumer sector-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures said that if a consumer business is good, it will need funding only twice. First, at the seed stage, and second, at the growth stage.

If any business requires capital a third time around, then it is not a consumption-based business. “That’s a certainty I can guarantee,” said Vora, who was an early stage investor in companies like Paytm, Vini Cosmetics Pvt., Parag Milk Foods Ltd.

Better Vice!

From an Indian investor’s perspective, liquor is a better vice to bet on than cigarettes, Vora said on the latest episode of BloombergQuint’s special series Alpha Moguls. Globally, liquor businesses trade at higher multiples than cigarette companies. In India, it is the other way round, he explained.

https://www.vccircle.com/sixth-senses-nikhil-vora-to-invest-in-glitter-powder-maker/ Nikhil Vora, founder of consumer sector-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures, is investing in a company that makes glitter powder and polyester film, according to a note the firm sent to its shareholders seeking approval for the investment. Vora, according to the note, will invest nearly Rs 4 crore ($610,000) in his personal capacity in the Vadodara, Gujarat-based Advance Syntex Ltd, which operates under the brand name Midas Glitter. Vora will pick up a stake of around 14% in the company, the note shows. When contacted, Vora confirmed the development. An email query sent to Advance Syntex didn’t get any response till the time of publishing this report. Advance Syntex has been making metallic yarn since 1974 and introduced glitter powder in 1980, according to its website. Besides glitter powder made of polyester metallic film, the company makes metallic yarn, lacquer-coated aluminium-metallised polyester film and other products. The glitter powder the company supplies is widely used in plastic moulding, fabrics, decorations and events. The company posted net sales of Rs 54.6 crore for 2016-17, a 12.6% rise over Rs 48.5 crore for 2015-16. Vora’s previous bets Vora was an early investor in One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of digital wallet firm Paytm. He sold his stake in One97 to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in May last year, reaping almost 75-fold gains. Around the same time, Vora also exited his investment in Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd when the operator of pre-schools and K-12 schools was acquired by EuroKids International Pvt. Ltd. Vora is also an investor in Fogg deo maker Vini Cosmetics, which raised funds from private equity firm WestBridge Capital Partners in September 2017. He has also invested in Noida-based Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, the firm behind Paree brand of sanitary napkins. Besides, Vora has invested in Avigo Capital-backed sports-focussed digital display solutions firm Technology Frontiers and aircraft maintenance and repair company AirWorks, which is backed by private equity firms New Enterprise Associates and GTI Capital. Meanwhile, Sixth Sense Ventures is on the verge of marking the first close of its second domestic fund. The fund has a target corpus of Rs 350 crore ($54 million) and aims to invest in 12 to 15 companies. Sixth Sense’s first fund had a corpus of Rs 125 crore ($19.2 million) and 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://www.vccircle.com/sixth-sense-ventures-nears-first-close-of-second-fund Sixth Sense Ventures is soon going to mark the first close of its second domestic fund, the consumer-focused venture capital firm's founder and CEO told VCCircle. According to Nikhil Vora, the second fund with a target corpus of Rs 350 crore ($54 million) will mark the first close by the month-end. “Nearly every investor who participated in our last fund are coming back for this vehicle. We will mark the first close anywhere between Rs 150-175 crore by February-end.” Vora, however, hinted that talks with a few foreign investors are also on and the fund size may increase if they come on board. “There are some global consumer companies that we are in touch with. If they participate, it will be outside of the Rs 350 crore.” The VC firm, which is planning to invest in 12-15 companies from the new fund, will maintain its consumer-focused theme. Fund-I Sixth Sense had a target corpus of Rs 125 crore for its first fund and had backed 10 companies, including Gaming arcade operator Smaaash Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Hindustan Foods Ltd, PepsiCo Inc’s Kurkure snack brand, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt Ltd and hyperlocal logistics service provider Grab. Nearly 50 investors, including family offices and high net-worth individuals, besides Small Industries Development Bank of India had come in as limited partners to the first fund. Vora said that the fund has started returning capital to its investors. “Sixth Sense has become the first fund, ever, in the country to return capital back to its lead investors within one to one-and-half years from the date of the closure of a seven-year fund,” he said, adding that they have already returned about Rs 25 crore to SIDBI. “We’ve have only exited from JHS, but the exit route looks brighter for several companies within the next two years.” Vora’s investments In his personal capacity, Vora has invested in One97 Communications, the parent of mobile wallet and e-commerce firm Paytm; Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd, which runs Kangaroo Kids Preschool and Billabong High International School; and Vini Cosmetics, a consumer goods company that had also raised funding from Sequoia Capital. He has also invested in Avigo Capital-backed sports-focused digital display solutions firm Technology Frontiers, and MRO AirWorks, which counts NEA and GTI Capital as its investors. Earlier this year, he had sold his stake in Paytm to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, reaping gains of almost 75 times.