All things consumer & insurgent brands. What I am currently reading, thinking about, and reflecting upon. You can follow me on Twitter at @dishahdadpuri or follow DSGCP at @dsgcp.

Why traditional VC does not work for consumer brands

Over the last 10 days, I have met with over two dozen LPs looking to deploy capital to Indian & SE Asian venture funds. Some were exiting LPs but many were new LPs wanting to learn more about what we do. The slide we spent the most time on was this one, where we explain why traditional tech VC is not designed for consumer brands and why there is a need for dedicated VCs to focus on consumer brands.

Insurgent Brands Bounce Back

— www.bain.com

Bain & Company just released an updated perspective on consumer #insurgentbrands. Post-COVID insurgent brands are taking market share from existing brands. COVID was hard for smaller brands as supply chain and distribution channels were shut off.

Bain offers large CPG cos 3 opportunities to compete:

1. Apply an insurgent mindset to stagnant brands,

2. Launch new brands using an insurgent mindset,

3. Acquire insurgent brands and their founding teams to run.

My recent conversations with large CPG companies confirm that they are considering all 3. However, most believe it will be tough to do 1 and 2. So M&A is very high on the agenda.

We at DSG Consumer Partners are working with some of the best founders to create the next generation of consumer brands.

Nestle to invest ₹5,000 crore in India explore acquisitions

— www.livemint.com

“The investment I talked about—that’s capex, that’s us putting money into our facilities, be it factories or research centres. On top of that, if we see interesting opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, we would be very, very happy to explore those".

L’Oréal Acquires US-based Skinbetter Science

L’Oréal Acquires US-based Skinbetter Science — www.happi.com

Founded in 2016 so only 6 years old. No outside funding. $95M in revenue. No price tag disclosed yet but am sure we will find out at some point. Takeaway: You can build an #insurgentbrand and scale and attract a buyer.

BigBasket Looks to Raise $200 mn at up to $3.5 bn Valuation

— economictimes.indiatimes.com

This is a deal I passed on at the seed stage. And how wrong I was on the adoption of the internet in India for groceries.