An early-stage venture fund, Fireside Ventures has announced the close of its third fund at $225 million, which is double the size of its previous fund.

Fireside’s Fund III will invest in 25-30 startups in keeping with the Fireside thesis of digital-first consumer brands, across the spectrum of health and wellness, edutainment, lifestyle, and FMCG. The firm’s portfolio includes companies like personal care unicorn — Mamaearth, and electronics brand Boat, and Vahdam among others. 

Made with Flourish
New and exisiting investors

Fireside Fund III is anchored by new and existing Indian and global investors which includes, Self-Reliant India Fund, Investment Corporation of Dubai, SBI, Premji Invest, Waterfield - Fund of Funds, ITC Limited, Emami Limited, Sharrp Ventures and several start-up founders. Interestingly, 90 per cent of the fund’s limited partners are domestic investors.

Vinay Singh, Partner at Fireside Ventures told businessline, “Given the funding environment, Fireside is seeing an increased deal flow, with some later-stage deals being priced down and coming its way. These are deals that typically would not have been the firm’s entry point. This is in addition to the healthy pre-series A stage deals where the firm has always had a healthy flow.” Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Partner, Fireside Ventures added that the mouth of the funnel has also become bigger because the sector has matured and companies like Mamaearth have achieved unicorn valuation.

Started in 2017, Fireside has been the first institutional investor in 75 per cent of its 31 portfolio companies, and almost 50 per cent of these companies have been founded or co-founded by women. Fireside Ventures with the close of its Fund III is currently managing $395 million of AUM (assets under management) with investments across digital-first consumer brands in sectors such as health & wellness, food and beverages, beauty & personal care, nutraceuticals, lifestyle and home products, etc. Since its inception, Fireside has invested in 31 brands.

Clear vision

“Fireside Ventures was created with a very clear vision, to invest in the next generation of consumer brands, a space that was witnessing the start of disruptive changes. Five years later, we are delighted to see the magnitude of change these brave new digital-first brands are creating, and we look forward to seeing them create even more value in the future,” said Singh.

Further, commenting on the impact of the funding crunch on Fireside’s investment strategy, V S Kannan Sitaram (Partner) said, “We have not changed anything at all. We always stuck to our philosophy of saying we are very focused on early-stage consumer businesses, which are digitally enabled and frugal in the use of capital, and are bringing different solutions to the market. We are very frugal in terms of our pricing, we are not rock-bottom discount investors, nor are we the guys that give outsized bids just because we want to invest in a company. We have been very grounded and continue to be so as we move forward.”

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