L Catterton, a private equity firm supported by luxury giant LVMH, is planning to raise $600 million for its first investment fund focused only on India. This was shared in a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group.
If successful, this could be the first time a global private equity firm creates a fund just for investing in India.
According to the report, IFC will invest $30 million in the L Catterton India Fund-I. It may also invest an extra $30 million alongside the main investment.
In March last year, Sanjiv Mehta, the former CEO of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), joined forces with L Catterton to start an investment fund focused on India. Mehta led HUL, India’s biggest consumer goods company, for ten years until 2023. Together with L Catterton, he created a joint venture to invest in India’s consumer sector. Last July, it was reported that L Catterton had applied to the Securities and Exchange Board to set up this fund.
The fund will be led by Sanjiv Mehta, who is the executive chairman for India. Anjana Sasidharan, a partner and head of India Investments, will also help lead it. They will work with the current L Catterton Asia team, led by managing partner Scott Chen, who has been in charge since 2019.
L Catterton plans to make 7 to 9 investments from this India-focused fund. Each investment will be between $25 million and $150 million.
According to IFC, the fund will mainly support companies in areas like food and drinks, consumer services (like healthcare, retail, and restaurants), and consumer brands.
L Catterton’s investments include beauty brand Sugar Cosmetics, healthy snack startup Farmley (which it helped raise $40 million last month), petcare brand Drools (which became a unicorn after Nestle SA invested), and Impresario, the company behind the restaurant chain Social, started by Riyaaz Amlani. L Catterton has also invested in Jio Platforms, owned by Reliance Industries.
With its India-focused fund, L Catterton will enter a market that already has other investment firms focused on consumers, like A91 Partners, Fireside Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, and more.
This fundraising trend shows the bigger picture of how the Indian investment scene is growing. In 2024, several big investors like IvyCap Ventures (which invested in Bluestone), Sorin Investments led by former KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar, and climate-focused Avaana Capital also raised large funds. More recently, A91 Partners closed its biggest fund ever with $665 million, and Accel India, an early investor in Flipkart and Swiggy, closed a $650 million fund.
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