Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (Wipro Consumer Care), the number two personal care company in Malaysia and owner of the number one Halal facial care brand Safi, launches venture fund, Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, to invest in innovative consumer brand start-ups in South East Asia and India.
Wipro Consumer Care’s new initiative aims to establish partnerships with consumer businesses that have unique customer offerings and e-commerce expertise, enabling both businesses to leverage their respective strengths for growth.
Commenting on the venture fund, Kumar Chander, President – Southeast Asia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, Wipro Consumer Care said, “We are excited to announce the formation of Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures, which is focused on supporting small businesses with consumer offerings that complement our leading portfolio of personal care brands. Our goal is to support start-ups on their growth journey by sharing our deep operational knowledge and experience in scaling businesses, as well as our strong understanding of consumers in India and Southeast Asia.
“The venture fund supports our ambition to become one of the top three players in the Personal Care category across Asia, as we look to strengthen our consumer offering by further building our digital and e-commerce capabilities. We look forward to learning from and leveraging the expertise of the forward-thinking and innovate start-ups we invest in.”
Wipro Consumer Care – Ventures aim to invest in new-age start-ups throughout Asia that adopt innovative approaches to digital and e-commerce to reach consumers. Reflecting the company’s own enterprising characteristics, it will invest in businesses with strong entrepreneurial leadership and sound business models. Of particular interest are companies with consumer offerings that complement its existing portfolio of brands in the personal care, skincare, home care, and lighting categories.
The company sees significant value and potential in investing and partnering with start-ups. The success of the Wipro Consumer Care’s investment in a minority stake in Indian-based personal care company Happily Unmarried in 2017 highlights the benefits of investing in and partnering with start-ups.
“Since our investment in Happily Unmarried two years ago the business has grown many folds. During this time the learnings and understandings we have gained has enabled us to further grow our digital and e-commerce offerings throughout Asia. Our work together has been invaluable,” said Kumar.
