Fewer companies in the consumer sector raised funding in the first quarter of the new year, in line with the declining deal-making activity across sectors, but the money flow remained intact, reflecting investor interest.
The number of consumer product and service (including e-commerce) companies raising money from private equity and venture capital investors declined around 40% year after year to 60 in the January-March quarter of 2019, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of Mosaic Digital. But the total amount raised stood at almost the same level at $1.45 billion.
Consumer discretionary category, which includes e-commerce, attracted bigger cheques than consumer staples.
Altogether 43 transactions worth $1.26 billion took place last quarter in the consumer discretionary space and around 17 firms raised cumulatively around $186 million in the consumer staples category. In particular, money flow in the staples side shot up almost threefold from the corresponding period last year.
Some of the firms that figured among the notable deals last quarter include online grocer BigBasket, Hotel Leelaventure and personal and healthcare products maker Emami Ltd.
To gauge the opportunities around the broader consumer sector including e-commerce, Mosaic Digital, the firm that runs this website, is organising a day-long event on 25 April in Mumbai.
The Consumer & E-Commerce Investment Summit will seek to identify the white spaces across consumer discretionary and staples businesses, specifically investment opportunities in backing the next set of firms poised to hit the big league.
It would look at learnings that restaurant chains can imbibe to break out of the scale trap, how the interplay of regulatory norms and market evolution is pitching vertical e-commerce firms against big horizontal e-tailers and a look at consumer product startups that are trying to break out with differentiated offerings.
The summit will see active private equity and venture capital investors in the consumer sector as also key entrepreneurs share their thoughts and insights on how to build businesses and tackle challenges.
For the early list of speakers, more details on the summit and booking of seat, click here.
