Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, the venture funding division of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, announced on Saturday the initiation of its second fund, with a total capital of INR 250 crore. This new fund, labeled Fund II, is dedicated to supporting investments in consumer startups across India and Southeast Asia, as outlined in the company’s official statement.
“We would look for e-comm driven companies at Pre Series A onwards, with minority stake approach (up to 25 per cent), and continue with our strategy of helping and nurturing the startups as required,” it added.
Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, launched around four years ago with a corpus of INR 200 crore, has made 10 investments so far.
“The fund performance is robust with MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital) running at over 2.2x as well as strong IRR (internal rate of return), which are above market benchmarks,” it said.
Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures has undertaken partial exits from two of its investments from the initial corpus up to this point.
Furthermore, the funding company stated, “In one of these investments, we have witnessed a 10x increase in a brief timeframe.”
“While a large majority of this fund has been committed, a couple of more new investments would be made from this fund as well as few follow ons too. Our portfolio construct is varied and a mix of investments in startups in India, in SE Asia, as well as in a VC fund,” it said.
Sumit Keshan, Managing Partner of Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, emphasized that the primary focus will be on companies operating within various categories and sub-categories such as personal care, skin care, home care, wellness, food, fragrances, and BPC (Beauty and Personal Care).
“Geo coverage would continue to be India and Southeast Asia where we feel we can add value beyond providing capital. We have been successful in value-adding to our investments by providing support in terms of offline focus, R&D, sourcing (specifically from overseas vendors), helping identify third-party manufacturers, finance discipline, etc,” he added.
In the fiscal year 2023, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, a division of Wipro Enterprises led by Azim Premji, has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing INR 10,000 crore in total sales.
Engaged in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and lighting sectors, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting has diversified its portfolio by venturing into the food segment through the acquisitions of Nirapara and Brahmins.