An undisclosed US university endowment has helped the consumer-focused venture firm hit a $118m final close for its second fund, surpassing its $100m target in the process.
India-based venture capital firm Fireside Ventures has closed its second fund at Rs 8.63bn ($118m), raising capital from limited partners (LPs) including an unnamed large US university endowment, VCCircle has reported.
The firm initially targeted $100m for Fireside Fund II and secured $60m for its November 2019 first close, having picking up a commitment from cosmetics producer L’Oréal’s Bold fund two months earlier.
The fund’s LPs also include adhesive manufacturer Pidilite Industries, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Nippon India Digital Innovation AIF Fund, PremjiInvest and Bajaj Holdings and Investment.
Founded in 2017, Fireside Ventures focuses on early-stage investments in consumer companies and has so far made four investments out of Fireside Fund II, in companies including yoga studio operator Sarva and menstruation management app developer Gynoveda.
Fireside Ventures partner Dipanjan Basu said that between 30% and 40% of the fund’s LPs are existing investors. Its first fund closed at just over $50m in 2018, with backing from conglomerates RP-Sanjiv Goenka and ITC, cosmetics provider Emami and Unilever Ventures, part of consumer products manufacturer Unilever.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
