V3 Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund, has kicked off its activities in India and will invest up to €100 million across Europe, the US and India. Backed by Verlinvest, an international investment company, V3 Ventures will focus on investing in the consumer space across new-age brands, technology, enablers and platforms at seed and series A stages.
V3 Ventures is led by Lopo Champalimaud, founder of the digital beauty-booking platform, Treatwell and Arjun Vaidya, founder of Ayurvedic wellness start-up Dr Vaidya's.
After creating and building consumer internet businesses in the US and Europe, Champalimaud led Treatwell through significant European expansion before deciding to hand over management reins and pivot to investing in the next generation of young consumer businesses. He is now based in London and leads V3's investments in Europe and the US alongside Jimmy Dietz.
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Arjun Vaidya founded Dr. Vaidya's in 2016 as an Ayurvedic direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand. Within four years, he scaled the brand to over 16,000 zip codes, introduced over 80 products, and gained over 2 million customers.
In 2021, he joined the Verlinvest family and co-founded V3 Ventures with Lopo Champalimaud. Arjun operates from Mumbai and leads investments in Asia and India alongside Rahul Maheshwari.
Commenting on the launch, Vaidya, co-founder and investment partner at V3 Ventures, said, "While start-up founders in India have many options for capital, what matters most is being backed by investors who understand the arduous nature of building much-loved, consumer brands. At V3, we have thorough experience in creating start-ups ourselves. We'd like to bring this unique value add to the table."
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In India, V3 Ventures has already invested in the audio content platform Kuku FM and digital healthcare app Eka Care. Over two decades, Verlinvest has invested in brands like Oatly, Vita Coco, Tony's Chocolonely, BYJU's, Sula Vineyards and Purplle.com.
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