Fireside Ventures raises $60 mn in first close for Fund II

Fireside Ventures, the Bengaluru headquartered venture capital firm that invests in homegrown startup consumer brands, has raised commitments worth $60 million as part of the first close of its second fund. The fund, dubbed Fireside Fund II, has a final target corpus of $100 million.

Separately, the firm also announced its first investment from Fund II with Gynoveda Femtech, an ayurveda-based personal care brand that caters to menstrual health.

Fund II has raised commitments from domestic and global investors or limited partners. “We have witnessed a lot of interest from domestic and global investors including family offices, strategics, large institutions, etc. in investing in Fireside Fund II. The second fund aims to double down on the success of the first fund and follow the same strategy of investing in exciting young millennial brands and helping them with a strong ecosystem support,” Fireside founder and managing partner Kanwaljit Singh said in a statement.

The firm typically invest about $4-5 million in each portfolio company across the seed and Series A stages and across sectors such as food and beverages, personal care, lifestyle and home products.

“We are expanding and developing the portfolio across the consumer wallets and we believe brands in superfoods, personalized beauty, fashion and personal care will be the new frontrunners in the consumer segment,” Singh added.

In September this year, French cosmetics giant L'Oréal had announced an investment in Fireside Ventures through its corporate venture capital fund, BOLD Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development.

Fireside was founded in 2017 by Singh, who earlier co-founded venture capital firm Helion Venture Partners. The company raised first fund in February 2018 with a corpus of $50 million. The firm has invested in diverse companies catering to the consumer segment including boAt audio, Mama Earth, Vahdam Teas, Design Café, Alpha Vector (Frog Bikes) and Yoga Bar. In terms of exits, one of Fireside’s early investments, Kwik 24, was acquired by BigBasket in 2018.

Social networking giant Facebook has also tied up with Fireside for its SMB Ecosystem Incubator Programme.