India focused Lighthouse Fund said it is looking to double its asset under management from $235 million to $ 500 million in twelve to eighteen months. The company which invests in consumer facing firms said real estate ancillary verticals is an area of opportunity for funding.

Lighthouse Funds has so far made investments into 17 companies since it raised its first round of funding in 2009.

“We typically make investments in consumer facing companies with growth potential. We invest upto Rs 100 crore in each of these entities and help them in growing the business,” Sachin Bhartiya, Partner, Lighthouse Fund told Business Line.

He said the company has returned 1.7x of the invested capital to its investors.

Bhartiya said that the company is in the process of raising its third round of funding. “We are looking to raise about $200 million. We should be able to close the fund raising in about ten to twelve month,” he added.

Lighthouse launched its first India-focused investment vehicle — India 2020, Limited (“Fund I”) — with a corpus of approximately $100 million in 2008. This was followed by the $135 million India 2020 Fund II, Limited in 2015. This fund also had commitment from the US government’s development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation. From the second fund, Lighthouse has made six investments till date.

Lighthouse Funds has invested in Bikaji Snack, WowMomos, Dhanuka Agritech, ethnic apparel firm FabIndia and Kama Ayurveda, biscuit maker Unibic Foods, laminate manufacturing firm Stylam and sanitaryware maker Cera, among others.

Bhartiya said that in each of the companies it has invested in, it works closely with the promoters and assists the company in all aspects of organizational development including human resources, sales and marketing, operations and finance. Ends/

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