Deepak's Musings #132: Wipro Consumer and Emami look for new opportunities as India's consumers keep spending

🛍️ Wipro Consumer continues to build its portfolio of CPG brands

Wipro Consumer Care is an LP in DSG Consumer Partners and co-investors with us in CPG start-ups in India and Indonesia. It’s been a great relationship and we look forward to working with the team to help build the next generation of insurgent consumer brands.

🛍️ Emami is doing the same

Wipro Consumer isn’t the only incumbent CPG company looking to grow its portfolio. Kolkata-based Emami has engaged McKinsey to help they find new consumer opportunities. Unclear if these will be organic or inorganic or both.

🫚 Farmley closes new funding round

Healthy snacking brand Farmley, a DSGCP portfolio company, closes a new funding round led by BC Jindal Group. DSGCP first partnered with Farmley in 2022 and participated in the round. Farmley’s vision is consistent with DSGCP’s long-term thesis on building a portfolio of brands in the healthy snacking category.

🍶 What is “punk nutrition”?

"Punk nutrition" is a term that originated in China and describes a lifestyle where individuals, often working for 10 or more hours a day, seek to balance their intense work regime with high-quality nutrition and supplements. This lifestyle reflects a growing demand among (Chinese) consumers for functional and fortified foods and beverages, aiming to support a healthier living despite their stressful work environments.

Will we see punk nutrition become a thing in India and SEA?

👄 Shiseido Announces Launch of Venture Fund

The new fund called LIFT (Long Term Investments for the Future) will be a vehicle for investing in innovative early-stage companies within the beauty wellness space. “LIFT Ventures is focused on investing behind novel technologies, innovative platforms, high-growth brands, and new business models, among others”.

This sounds a lot like L’Oreals BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development​).

It is not surprising to see incumbent CPG companies working with startups and insurgent brands to create the next generation of insurgent brands.

🇨🇳 China now has the most branded coffee shops of any country in the world

Coffee is the go-to beverage for millennials and Gen Z. We are seeing it in India and we are seeing it in SEA. Starbucks spent $200 million this year on a new Chinese campus, which the company said was its largest investment in a coffee manufacturing and distribution center outside the US. The chain currently has about 6,500 stores in China to Luckin’s ~11,000, and its goal is to reach 9,000 locations by 2025.

🧆 Pip & Nut is UK’s fastest growing nut butter brand

DSG Consumer Partners portfolio company Pip & Nut grew 26.6% in value on units up 25.3%. Pip and the team have been tinkering away in the R&D lab so expect a lot of new product innovations in 2024.

🥇 Best CPG launches in the UK by category

I love this annual list from The Grocer. Tons of interesting ideas for me to think about and whether it could work in India and/or Southeast Asia. The winner in the jam & spreads category is Pip & Nut!

🐕 India’s pet market to reach US$2 Billion by 2030

India is at the very early stages of the evolution of the pet-parenting market. This offers entrepreneurs a huge opportunity to create businesses catering to the millions of soon-to-be pet-parents.

🧱 Brick by Brick 14: The Himalaya way - Building footprints in uncharted spaces

For the 14th episode of Brick by Brick: Building Insurgent Brands, we had the privilege of hosting Saket Gore, ex CEO, Himalaya Wellness Company, APAC. In conversation with DSGCP's Sameer Mehta, Saket shares his experience of building Himalaya for over 15 years in and outside India, specifically Indonesia. We cover category creation, consumer insights, NPD & and innovation, general trade and much more!

🍦 Portfolio profile: Go Zero Ice Cream

India Retailing profiles DSGCP portfolio co Go Zero. CEO Kiran Shah talks about how he started and the outlook for the future.

Select funding news

Some deals that got my attention.