Wipro Consumer Care VC plans exits, sharpens focus on packaged foods

Created a second fund ₹The Rs 250-crore investment will result in three to four new investments every year, a senior company official said.

Wipro Consumer Care Ventures started investing from its first fund in 2019-20 and has a portfolio of around 15 companies. Some of the startup’s bets include male grooming startups like Ustraa and LetsShave. He has since exited both of those companies.

Sumit Keshan, managing partner of Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, told Mint in an interview: “We’ve made three investments this year; we’ll do another one, maybe jumping into the next calendar year. We’ll be looking at a few exits over the next year or so – that’s our focus for next year. We did an exit – a partial exit – in Ustraa when it joined VLCC; we have some stake in VLCC through Ustraa.”

“We were the only investors who exited MyGlamm (Good Glamm Group) and made money. To be honest, I’m not exiting. When you start a fund early, you look at building a portfolio.”

The fund typically invests in an average of three companies a year, gradually expanding into sectors such as wellness, packaged foods and pet care. Starting from average ticket size ₹12-13 crore, the company’s investments have now increased to 12-13 crore ₹10-25 crore. He usually takes less than a 20 percent stake in the venture he supports.

Keshan said the venture capital (VC) firm will focus more on packaged foods in the future, after investing in health food brand Anveshan earlier this year.

Earlier this year, it made its third investment of the year by making its first investment in the pet care brand Goofy Tails. first fund ₹200 crore has been fully commissioned as of this year, while investments from the second fund ( ₹250 crore) will start early next year.

Earlier this year, the fund, which has primarily backed very early-stage companies for nearly a decade, changed course and now focuses on pre-Series A and Series A rounds at more mature stages.

“Over the last five years, we have expanded the portfolio in terms of the stage of the company we want to look at while building it. Secondly, earlier we were doing more personal care, men’s grooming and so on, but now we are doing a lot of food investments. Besides Anveshan and pet care, we have also done Let’s Try, The Baker’s Dozen,” he added.

Mergers & Acquisitions and market outlook

Keshan also manages mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the company’s core FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) business, where it is actively building a food portfolio. It sells the popular Santoor brand soaps.

Wipro Consumer Services and Lighting increased its revenues so far: ₹10,625 crore in 2024-25, up 3.40% from the previous year.

The consumer products firm also has an active merger and acquisition trajectory; has invested over $1 billion in the last two decades to acquire brands in various markets both in India and abroad. In April 2023, it acquired Kerala-based packaged food brand Brahmins, which offers breakfast pre-mix powders, spice mixes, pickles and dessert mixes. In the same year, it acquired personal care brands Jo, Doy and Bacter Shield from VVF (India) Ltd.

“We’re very open to acquiring companies in skin care, packaged foods and fragrance because we have Yardley; those are areas we’re very open to,” he added.

The flow of early-stage deals isn’t slowing down, Keshan said.

“The activity is very high, people are engaged and this continues. Later stage investments are down, mega deals are down. These are linked to broader macro factors. But where we are focused, I think the pipeline is strong and the activity is big. We want to make three to four investments a year,” he added. “Consolidation will happen from a startup perspective because we will also look at exits. When you look at exits, unless you are big enough for an IPO, you either look at a larger PE (private equity) or something strategic…so all possibilities are open.”

In March 2022, it also invested as an LP (limited partner) in DSG Consumer Partners Fund IV, a consumer-focused venture capital fund based in Singapore.