Building Consumer Brands in India | Ep: 07 The India Opportunity Podcast with Piyush
"This is the best time to build consumer businesses in India," Piyush Goenka, Prath Ventures
Piyush is the Founder & Managing Partner at Prath Ventures, a new venture capital fund focused on investing in early stage consumer businesses. Prior to launching Prath, he was a Partner at Tano Capital, a private equity fund of 200M dollars AUM, where he backed phenomenal success stories such as Arohan Financial Services, an NBFC company and Safari - the travel luggage company which he saw grow from a market cap of 200 Crores to over 10,000 Crores. Prath’s recent investments from the new fund have been Jimmy’s Cocktails, Assembly and Aukera - all very interesting consumer businesses being built in India. They ideally want to be the first institutional investor when founders are raising their seed or series A rounds and the first cheque for them is usually between 3-15 Crores which is roughly 500K-2M USD. Excited to deep dive with Piyush into the consumer landscape in India today, and his plans for Prath in the future. Founders who are building consumer businesses, you will gain a lot of rich insights from Piyush’s experience about business building as well as fundraising.
7th episode of The India Opportunity Podcast is out now! You can watch it on Youtube or tune in on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Key Takeaways
The consumer market in India has undergone significant changes, with the rise of e-commerce and a growing middle class with the willingness and ability to pay.
To scale a business in the consumer space, it is important to understand consumer insights, have a clear brand proposition, and execute well.
Prath's investment philosophy focuses on market/category analysis, founder evaluation, and founder-market fit.
Founders should focus on building a strong market/category understanding, have a clear value proposition, and align with the market they are targeting. Prath focuses on building consumer brands in India and looks for founders who understand their target audience and can deliver value to consumers.
They believe in the potential of sectors like health and wellness, home improvement, and brands targeting Gen Z.
Prath takes a different approach to investing in consumer brands, aiming for a larger number of successful investments rather than relying on a few high-value outcomes.
Fundraising for Prath was challenging, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were able to secure investments from HNIs and family offices who believed in their team and approach. Fundraising happens in cycles and is influenced by macroeconomic activity and liquidity.
The relevance of domestic liquidity has increased in India, leading to more active early-stage investing.
There is a gap in late-stage capital in India due to the evolution of firms and the aspiration to raise larger funds.
Prath Ventures aims to become a partner of choice for early-stage consumer founders.
Luck plays a role in investing, but rigorous processes and avoiding mistakes are crucial for success.
Vipassana had a profound impact on Piyush's life and brought in spirituality and a sense of meaning.
Continuous improvement and being dependable are important values for Piyush.
Sudhir Chatterjee's kindness and recognition have had a significant influence on Piyush's professional journey.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Childhood
03:50 Career Journey: Equity Research Analyst to Launching Prath
08:15 Choosing Seed to Series A Stage
11:27 Macro View of the Consumer Space in India
25:19 Shift in Scale and Revenue Opportunities in the Consumer Space
30:20 Prath's Investment Process and Focus Areas
34:08 Building Consumer Brands in India
43:18 Focus on Health and Wellness, Home Improvement, and Gen Z
52:23 A Different Approach to Investing in Consumer Brands
01:01:14 Challenges and Successes in Fundraising for Prath
01:07:25 Understanding the Different Stages of Investing and the Fundraising Environment in India
01:12:57 Building PrathVentures as a Partner of Choice for Early-Stage Consumer Founders
01:19:13 The Role of Luck and the Importance of Rigorous Processes in Investing
01:23:12 The Impact of Vipassana and the Pursuit of Continuous Improvement
01:29:41 The Kindness and Influence of Sudhir Chatterjee in Piyush's Professional Journey
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Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Podcast where you get a front row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators and successful leaders from different fields to bring to you real life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.
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