Participated · Series E · Sep 2021

HomeLane provides end-to-end home interiors services and products, focusing on design, manufacturing and installation for residential customers. The company plans strategic expansion into newer markets and deeper investments in technology and brand-building. Management has set an ambitious revenue target of Rs 2,500 crore by FY24. The business has been capital efficient and the company has achieved cash profitability, according to an investor quote in the article. HomeLane is based in New Delhi and is led by co-founders Srikanth Iyer and Tanuj Choudhry. Over the past seven years it has raised significant venture capital to support growth. HomeLane operates a virtual design platform and real-time integrated pricing engine that lets home buyers select from hundreds of kitchen, wardrobe or wall-unit combinations and work with HomeLane interior designers to customise orders. The platform supports selection of layouts, designs, colours and finishes and the company offers a 45-day delivery guarantee for fit-outs. Bengaluru-based HomeLane says the new capital will be used for continued operations, further expansion of the business and working capital. The company has reported losses for four consecutive financial years—Rs 24 crore (2016–17), Rs 29.28 crore (2017–18), Rs 54.86 crore (2018–19) and Rs 121.31 crore (2019–20). Founded in 2014 by Srikanth Iyer, Rama Harinath, Krishnan Ganesh and Meena Ganesh, HomeLane has raised multiple prior financings and strategic deals. Sequoia, Accel and JSW have been recurring investors in its recent rounds. HomeLane offers a one-stop shop for fitted kitchens, wardrobes, entertainment units and other interior fixtures, combining an online design platform with 16 experience centers across seven Indian cities. Customers upload floor plans that local interior designers review to provide product suggestions, price quotes and 3D visualizations. The company has worked with more than 900 design experts and delivered over 6,000 projects. HomeLane emphasizes guaranteed on-time delivery and after-sale services and differentiates from pure online sellers by its local designer network and supply-chain capacity. The startup plans to use new capital to broaden its proprietary technology infrastructure and expand into eight to ten additional cities. Financially, HomeLane reported a net loss of $4.1 million on revenue of $5.6 million for the year ended March 2018 and its CEO says the company is inching closer to EBITDA profitability. HomeLane is a Bangalore-based online marketplace for fixed furniture, formed in August 2014 by Srikanth Iyer and Rama Harinath alongside K Ganesh and Meena. The portal sells fixed furniture items such as wardrobes, TV cabinets, kitchen units and other home set-up solutions, after rolling up assets of offline design firm Bello Interiors. The company reports 100 employees, has acquired 40 customers in the last eight months, and its average ticket size is about Rs 5 lakh. HomeLane plans to use new funding for expansion into 10 more cities by year end, technology enhancements, and marketing campaigns. Immediate expansion targets are Chennai and Hyderabad, followed by NCR and Pune, and the company intends to double headcount by year end. It positions itself against FabFurnish and Urban Ladder but says it has no direct competition because those players sell loose furniture while HomeLane focuses on fixed furniture.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2018

Faircent is described as India’s largest peer-to-peer lending platform, aggregating creditworthy borrowers and lenders for retail and business loans. The company started operations in 2014 and reports over 6,000 registered lenders and 25,000 registered borrowers, having disbursed a total of Rs. 4.5 crore in just over 18 months. The marketplace uses a transparent rate-discovery model and a unique reverse-auction mechanism to help borrowers reduce interest rates. Founders Rajat Gandhi (CEO) and Vinay Mathews (COO) emphasize building a technology platform for a new industry and plan to refine tech-enabled risk-mitigation algorithms using big data analytics. Faircent positions itself as adding value to both borrowers and lenders and expanding access to credit through its platform. JM Financial’s participation signals investor interest in the company’s P2P model and technology-driven approach. Faircent operates an online P2P lending marketplace that connects lenders with varied borrower profiles using comprehensive credit technology and extensive automation. The platform emphasizes ease of access for unbanked and under-banked consumers and offers products for MSMEs to apply and receive funds quickly. Faircent uses features such as an Auto Invest tool that automatically matches lenders’ criteria with borrower requests. The company positions itself as India’s largest P2P platform and highlights its technology-driven user experience for both lenders and borrowers. Recent regulatory clarity from the RBI and P2P entities being regulated as NBFCs are presented as enablers for the company to scale its technological and operational capabilities. Faircent is backed by marquee investors and aims to expand the market for retail lending as a new asset class. Faircent operates a peer-to-peer lending marketplace facilitating negotiated loans between lenders and borrowers. Founded in 2013 by Rajat Gandhi and Vinay Mathews and based in Gurgaon, the company has disbursed close to Rs 4 crores in the last six months and has a registered lender base of about 5,000. The latest capital will be used to build technology and product and to hire a team to strengthen the business. Management says regulatory arbitrage in the P2P lending sector has eased following an RBI white paper, though questions remain around the presence of physical entities. Faircent is also in talks to raise a larger round in roughly six months to support marketing the business. Interest rates on the platform can range from 12% to 36% based on negotiations between parties.

Participated · Series B · Apr 2017

Founded in 2019, PharmEasy runs a web and mobile marketplace for prescription drugs, diagnostic services, and tele-health consultations in India. The company grew rapidly through the 2021 acquisition of Thyrocare but has since grappled with heavy leverage, prompting multiple high-cost debt raises. For FY25, it reported flat revenue of Rs 5,872 crore while trimming its net loss 38 % to Rs 1,572 crore, reflecting modest operational improvement. Leadership has shifted as all co-founders have exited and Rahul Guha, previously MD & CEO of Thyrocare, now heads PharmEasy. A steep 90 % valuation cut to about $710 million in April 2024 underscored investor concerns after its $5.6 billion peak in 2021. The company continues to prioritize debt repayment, most recently raising fresh capital to retire an expensive Goldman Sachs loan. Its future plans appear focused on stabilizing the balance sheet while maintaining its core e-pharmacy and diagnostics offerings.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2016

DoSelect operates a collaborative technical-assessment platform that helps organisations hire technical talent by measuring real skills. The platform provides tools such as online hackathons to evaluate skills in web technologies, databases, UI/UX and Big Data. Candidates can use the platform to prepare for interviews and improve outcomes. The company has a 12-member team and counts clients including InMobi and Amazon India. Founded in mid-2014 and run by Axilly Labs Pvt. Ltd, DoSelect was started by Sanket Saurav, Rohit Tirkey and Iliyas Shirol. Management says the recent investment will add value to its product roadmap as it seeks to shift the technical measurement landscape.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2016

Vyome’s lead candidate is VB 1953, a first-in-class topical bactericidal antibiotic being developed to treat antibiotic-resistant acne and reduce inflammation. The company planned to initiate a US phase 2b clinical trial of VB 1953 in Q1 2019 and is advancing the molecule through phase 2 studies for moderate to severe acne. Vyome also has a pipeline of preclinical new chemical entities based on its patented Dual Action Rational Therapeutics (DARTs) technology. The company has developed antifungal products from its Molecular Replacement Therapeutics (MRT™) platform and has out-licensed marketing rights for that platform to a large specialty pharmaceutical company. Vyome said the addressable US opportunity for antibiotic-resistant P. acnes could be roughly $2B. The company underwent a corporate restructuring to establish operations and headquarters in the United States. Vyome Biosciences is a clinical-stage specialty biopharmaceutical company based in New Delhi developing novel drugs for skin diseases caused by resistant microbes. Its lead program is VB 1953 for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant acne, which recently received FDA acceptance. The company also develops proprietary candidates targeting opportunistic pathogens and antifungal indications in dermatology. Vyome intends to use the Series C proceeds to advance the clinical development of VB 1953 while continuing work on other pipeline products. Leadership includes Co-Founder & CEO Venkateswarlu Nelabhotla (N. Venkat) and Co-Founder Dr. Shiladitya Sengupta. The company raised $14M in Series C financing to fund these clinical and development activities. Vyome Biosciences focuses on developing therapeutics for hard-to-treat and refractory dermatology diseases. It has completed clinical research on two products and has two lead compounds in preclinical stages of a USFDA program. The company is building a pipeline that includes molecules to kill dandruff-causing fungus and new antibiotics targeting resistant acne-causing bacteria, and it has developed a robust global patent portfolio. Vyome recently completed clinical studies on VB001 and VB2421 for mild to moderate dandruff. Management says the financing will fund USFDA filings and Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical research, plus further development and commercialization of its Rx and OTC pipeline. The company was founded in August 2010 and is based in Delhi. Vyome Biosciences develops dermatology and skin-care therapeutics, with lead programs targeting dandruff and acne. The company has filed multiple Indian and global patents on its platform technologies. Vyome plans to use the new funding to support clinical development of its lead anti-dandruff products and to accelerate pre-clinical development of its anti-acne candidates. Its founders include Rajesh Gokhale, Shiladitya Sengupta, and Rajeev Mantri, and the company was set up in August 2010. Vyome received seed funding from Navam Capital prior to this round. Leadership has expressed a vision to launch global products originating from India and to address the large global dermatology market. Vyome Biosciences is a new venture focused on dermatology and skin care. It will develop research-based pharmaceutical solutions for anti-fungal indications, chronic wound healing, and pigmentary disorders such as vitiligo. The company is targeting the global dermatology and wound care market, which the article estimates at over $15 billion. Vyome has received an early-stage investment of $1 million from Navam Capital. The description in the article emphasizes research-driven therapeutic development within dermatology rather than consumer skincare products.