'Our LPs like the fact we don't chase what's hot and sexy'

DSG Consumer Partners has become the latest India-focussed venture capital firm to achieve a fundraising milestone this year, joining the likes of Matrix Partners, pi Ventures, Kae Capital, Blume Ventures and Omnivore.

- Debjyoti Roy

Singapore-headquartered sumer, which has backed several category-leading brands such as Oyo, Veeba, Epigamia and Mswipe, plans to retain its investment playbook for its fourth fund but has added an "early growth sleeve" to its strategy, founder Deepak Shahdadpuri told VCCircle.

In an interaction after the VC firm made the final close of the fund at $114 million, meeting its target, Shahdadpuri talked about the theme of the new vehicle, past portfolio performance and its exit plans, among other things. Excerpts:

Did DSG Consumer face difficulties in raising the new fund, given the fact that the startup and VC ecosystems are going through a slowdown?

Venture capital is a long-term asset class. Experienced limited partners (LPS) understand this and do not stop committing. You cannot time the market. Great companies are founded in all market conditions. I do not want to comment on the market as a whole.

DSG Consumer is one of the very few specialized early-stage VC We invest only in consumer brands. In fact, we were the first fund to do this in India when we set up in 2012.

Our LPS-keep in mind 72% of the fund was raised from existing LPs-are looking for a particular strategy to add to their portfolio. Looking back, I think being small and sector-specialized helped us cut through the noise. LPs tell me they like the fact that we do not chase what is hot and sexy and keep looking deeper into the broad consumer space only.