Consumer-focussed venture capital (VC) firm Kairon Capital has announced the first close of its inaugural fund at INR 90 Cr. The target corpus of the fund is INR 150 Cr, apart from a greenshoe option of INR 50 Cr.
Investors like Innovist’s Rohit Chawla, Plix cofounder Rishubh Satiya, Livspace’s Saurabh Jain and XYXX Apparels founder Yogesh Kabra, along with a host of institutional investors and family offices participated in the fundraise.
After being founded in 2025 by former Rukam Capital principal Deepankur Malhotra, the firm got SEBI’s regulatory clearance in November to launch and raise capital for its investment fund. Malhotra said that reviewing hundreds of consumer businesses during his erstwhile experience influenced his decision to start his own fund, where he could leverage the connections he had made in the consumer ecosystem.
Kairon Capital aims to make 14-15 investments in the next four years, averaging at 3-4 investments per year. The venture fund will make 4-5 investments in 2026, with cheque sizes ranging from INR 2 Cr to INR 14 Cr.
Its investment strategy is focussed on consumer-centered startups that are in the early stages of their journey, especially those that are yet to raise funds either by choice or low-interest.
“The idea is to look at companies which are partly scaled up, ideally above INR 5 Cr ARR so we can come in at seed to early Series A rounds. We want to look at brands which are under the radar, scaled up well with founders that haven’t been able to or wanted to raise or the ones that don’t fit the typical VC-founder bill,” Malhotra told Inc42.
VCs usually look for founders that are pedigreed or coachable, however, the VC firm’s founder and managing partner believes that these qualities can be worked on, which is where the operator-founder investor network of the fund will come in handy.
Kairon Capital will help these startups with business decisions like go-to-market strategy, distribution expansion, brand and growth decisions, hiring, governance, and future fundraising readiness. Some consumer sub-sectors that Malhotra is bullish on include health and wellness and home decor.
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