Welcoming 2 new companies, exciting portfolio updates, and what we are reading at IQ
Dear Investors and Friends,
We’re thrilled to share that we recently welcomed 2 new companies to our portfolio:
1. Fyllo, an IoT and AI-based agri-intelligence services company that helps farmers make precise decisions and increase farm productivity.
They raised INR 33 Cr in a funding round led by us and SIDBI Ventures.
Currently, over 8k+ farmers are using Fyllo’s services on more than 50k+ acres of land, consistently receiving more yield, export-quality produce, and income.
Learn more about them here.
2. Fix My Curls, a curly and wavy hair-focused hair care brand.
Fix My Curls offers a comprehensive range of products, including shampoos, conditioners, styling products, accessories, and more. To date, they have delivered to 1L+ customers on their own D2C platform, grown their community of curly and wavy-haired individuals to 75k+ people, and are present in 10+ countries.
Here’s Sahil Makkar (IndiaQuotient) on partnering with Anshita Mehrotra (founder of Fix My Curls):
“Anshita, along with her team, have created highly differentiated and innovative products that resonate positively with those having curly, wavy, and textured hair.
Drawing from her own experiences, she possesses profound customer insights, positioning her to build a large-scale, impactful brand in this niche market. We believe that this segment has long been underserved within the haircare industry and are excited to partner with FixMyCurls.”
Read more here.
Some more exciting updates from our portfolio:
1. High Street Essentials, the parent company of women’s fashion brands FabAlley and Indya, raised INR 50 Cr in a funding round led by Sangita Jindal, chairperson of the JSW Foundation. This funding round will help HSE fuel the expansion of their premium occasion wear, ‘Wedding by Indya’.
Read more here.
2. Propelld, an education-financing solutions company, raised a maiden debt round of INR 208 Cr from Credit Saison India, AU Small Finance Bank, and others for its NBFC EdGro Finance.
Read more here.
3. Blitz got featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2024 List (under the Enterprise Technology category)! Huge congratulations to the founders and team.
Blitz is a logistics solutions company helping D2C brands deliver faster (same-day or next-day delivery). So far, they have worked with 100+ brands like PhonePe, Giva, Snitch, Damensch, etc. and provide delivery services to 27k+ pin codes in India.
Check out Blitz’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia feature here.
IQ Top Picks
A recent addition to our newsletter, in ‘IQ Top Picks’ you will find 3 high-quality content recommendations handpicked by the IQ team—stuff that’s both enjoyable and insightful. Happy reading/ watching/listening!
1. Newsletter: SatPost by Trung Phan
In his latest post, ‘Jerry Seinfeld, Ichiro Suzuki, and the Pursuit of Mastery’, Trung shares nuanced insights on how and the right way to master your craft from a 1987 magazine that inspired Jerry Seinfeld, creator of the infamous sitcom ‘Seinfeld’, to dedicate his life to comedy and writing because “that will fulfil your life.”
Here’s one of our favourite snippets from the newsletter:
“Because the only thing in life that's really worth having is good skill. Good skill is the greatest possession. The things that money buys are fine. They're good. I like them. But having a skill [is the most important thing].”
2. Podcast: 20VC by Harry Stebbings
Check out their episode on Sequoia’s Product-Market Fit Framework ft. Vickie Peng, Product Partner at Sequoia Capital and co-creator of Arc, Sequoia’s company-building immersion programme for pre-seed and seed stage founders.
Vickie shares some incredible lessons from her 15-year-long journey in product and scaling 100+ companies at Sequoia.
3. Report: What if… We Win? by Elevation Capital
We thoroughly enjoyed reading Elevation Capital’s deep dive into India’s consumer tech opportunity, challenging the cynicism surrounding this space.
The report supports entrepreneurs by providing a positive, data-backed outlook on the future of consumer tech in India, encouraging them to seize the opportunities available and build lasting, impactful companies.
As always, we would like to leave you with some of the things our founders and the IQ team have been saying online:
1. Prateek Shukla on Masai turning cash flow positive in April’24 ⬇️
Check out Moneycontrol’s interview with Prateek on what helped Masai turn cash flow positive here.
2. Launched just 9 months ago, BharatAgri’s private label became operationally profitable 🎉
And lastly,
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. We’ll be back with another one soon!
Cheers,
Team IndiaQuotient.