Deepak's Musings #123: Investing across long lasting consumer themes

👫🏼 DSGCP closes Fund IV and is looking for mission-driven founders to partner

I am incredibly proud of the team that we have built at DSG Consumer Partners with my partners, Hariharan Premkumar heading our India investment team and Sameer Mehta heading the Southeastasia team. We collectively form a partnership with complementary skills, backgrounds and experiences. This means bringing together a team that is consumer-obsessed and loves getting their hands dirty working on brands from inception. We are thrilled that we have just that team with us across 11 investment professionals, 2 portfolio support team members focusing on consumer insights, branding and marketing, and 2 compliance and admin professionals. I look forward to building for the next 10 years #brickbybrick!

We are investing across 8 core themes spanning multiple consumer categories.

💉💊 Can GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic impact snacking habits and therefore the future of CPG companies?

A very interesting look at how the rise of GLP-1 drugs may, over time, impact consumer behaviour and therefore the prospects of large snacking companies. At DSGCP we continue to look at snacking brands focused on the better-for-you and wellness category.

🧃 Nestlé sets a target to boost sales of its more nutritious foods and steps up support for balanced diets

On the same theme, CPG giant Nestlé has announced it will spend “significantly” to renovate existing products and spur innovation. I expect other companies to follow suit. Nestlé aims to grow the sales of its more nutritious products by CHF 20-25 billion by 2030. This represents about 50% growth over 2022 sales.

🏓 Does padel have the potential to be the next thing in sports?

In the last 2 years, so many of my friends have picked up playing pickleball and/or padel. More recently, a number of entrepreneurs I like have started businesses in one of these 2 sports. Sitting where I am, I can see both gaining momentum, with padel having the potential to become a more serious and competitive professional sport. I am looking to see how an investor can participate in what I think will be a large revenue and profit pool in the coming decades.

🛍️ Wipro Consumer Care & Lightning: The other Wipro that is quietly building a CPG giant

Not many people know that Mr Azim Premji’s, one of India’s largest technology companies, was spun out of a CPG company making and marketing cooking oil. Business Today does a great job looking at Wipro Consumer who are quietly building a large CPG business in India, Southeast Asia and beyond. Wipro Consumer is an LP in DSGCP and I have had the pleasure of working with their CVC team as we co-invest in insurgent brands and I learn more about how they are building their brands and markets brick by brick.

🌿 Sustainability is not a nice to have, it is a must-have

Not only is it good for the planet, but younger consumers we speak to are asking more from the brands they buy, in particular, are looking at their ESG credentials. Brands need to have that as a core part of their DNA.

🧑🏽‍🔬 Five ways emerging Insurgent Brands are tapping into new pockets of growth

Sharing this from Bain & Company on what emerging brands are doing in terms of innovation. We are seeing many of the same trends here in Asia.