September 1, 2017

DSG Consumer Partners (DSGCP) announced a final close of its second fund – DSGCP II, at $50 million- and the launch of DSGCP Tyeb – a new funding vehicle through which to invest in follow-on rounds for some of the best companies from the portfolio of the firm’s first fund.

“This allows limited partners not in Fund I to gain exposure to tomorrow’s leading consumer brands,” said Deepak Shahdadpuri, DSG Consumer Partners founder, to VCCircle. “DSGCP Tyeb is targeting a corpus of $20 million and it has already made a first close of $16 million….” 

Founded in 2012 as an early stage investor, DSGCP is one of the first funds in India to focus on identifying and investing in innovative brands in the consumer market. Primarily, the company takes minority positions in unlisted companies with an investment horizon generally spanning between six and 10 years. The firm generally aims to be the first institutional investor in companies through commitments that range from $100,000 to $1 million each with the potential to grow to between $1 million and $5 million over the age of the investment.

In 2012 the firm launched its first fund, DSGCP I, which went on to invest a total $24 million to build a portfolio of 21 companies including sauce producer Veeba Foods; maker of frozen dried fruit and vegetables Saraf Food; and specialty cheese company Exito Gourmet.

“Fund I has returned $6 million to investors. All this in just over four years,” Shahdadpuri told VCCircle.

DSGCP II had a funding target of $40 million, but reached its hard cap of $50 million. Two thirds of the capital was committed by institutional investors, family offices and funds of funds, with the balance coming from unspecified existing investors.

Shahdadpuri noted that investor demand was strong, but the firm held to its hard cap which brought the firm’s overall assets under management from $25 million more than $95 million, saying, “We had a target of $40 million for the second fund and a hard cap of $50 million, we closed at the $50 million hard cap despite investor demand and had the difficult task of saying no to some investors.”

“With the final close of DSGCP II and with the new fund DSCP Tyeb, the overall assets under management will increase to $95 million from $25 million,” he told Deal Street Asia.

The second fund aims to make 20 investments in startups across India and Southeast Asia, and plans to see full deployment by mid-2018, reports VCCircle. So far, investments made from the second fund include participation in a $4.5 million round for cold-pressed juice producer, RAW Pressery, in March of last year.

-Lynda Kiernan