Verlinvest to double annual India investments to $200 million, up its average cheque size

During a market visit to Chandigarh in 2021, Verlinvest executives noticed a drink that was popular locally and initially mistook it for an unorganised regional brand. “We thought it was some local concoction, and then realised it was actually just a three-year-old company — but it was everywhere,” recalls Arjun Anand, Managing Director & Head of Asia at Verlinvest.

That brand was Lahori Zeera. Verlinvest was intrigued. A local broker mentioned he knew the founders and could connect them in Mumbai. One meeting later, Verlinvest moved quickly. In 2022, the investment firm led Lahori’s Series A round with a $15 million cheque. At the time, the company had a revenue of ₹170 crore. “Today, they’re doing more than four times that,” says Anand.

The meeting also revealed a deeper alignment in vision. “Our first feedback to them was — Zeera is a commodity, you are Lahori. Why confuse the two? That’s when they said — you’re the right investor for us,” Anand shares.
Lahori Zeera is not Verlinvest’s first such find, but it offers a peek into the firm’s investment approach in India — spotting early consumer traction, backing brand-led businesses, and taking significant stakes to stay closely involved as the company scales.

Verlinvest India is the local arm of Verlinvest, a global investment firm headquartered in Belgium and backed by the founding families of Anheuser-Busch InBev. While the global firm invests across markets, Verlinvest has been active in India for over 15 years, focusing exclusively on the consumer sector. Its India portfolio currently includes eight active investments:

• Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters: $35 million in August-end 2024, additional $9mn in 2025
• Wakefit: Holds 9.89%, first invested in 2020 in a Series B funding round where Wakefit raised ₹185 crore led by Verlinvest & Sequoia
• Purplle: Invested $8 million in 2020, currently holds nearly 14%
• Epigamia: Holds 30%. First invested in 2016, where it led a ₹44.5 crore round with early-stage investor DSG Consumer Partners
• Heads Up For Tails: Raised around ₹277 crore in August 2021 in a funding led by Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital India
• Ferty9: Holds 80%. Acquired controlling stake in 2023 with investment commitment of $50mn
• Veeba: First invested ₹40 in October 2016 alongside DSGCP, invested another $4million in October 2017
• Lahori Zeera: Holds 19.64%. First invested $15 million in 2022

“Each of these companies is creating or has created a category-defining presence,” Anand notes.

Until now, Verlinvest’s average cheque size was around $40 million. The firm now plans to raise this to about $60 million, and double its average annual investment in India from $100 million to $200 million over the next two to three years.

“We want to scale up our capital deployment meaningfully, because we’re seeing incredible opportunities in the Indian consumer ecosystem,” says Anand.

A key pillar of Verlinvest’s investment approach in India is maintaining high ownership in a limited number of companies. “We can only bring value to the table if we’re active,” says Anand. “To be active, we need to limit the number of companies we work with. And for that, we need to hold a significant enough stake.”

Across its portfolio, Verlinvest aims for a minimum 10% ownership but prefers larger stakes. It owns 20% in Lahori and 30% in Veeba, another of its marquee investments. “I’m not getting out of bed for 5%,” quips Anand.

The company also deploys dedicated operating partners to support founders, helps refine branding and positioning, and plays a hands-on role in scaling businesses. “Most of the time, the product is already great,” says Anand. “What we bring is the ability to sharpen the brand, build distribution, and think long-term.”

Anand adds that this approach also limits the number of companies in the portfolio. “I can only have 10 to 12 active businesses in my portfolio. Today I have eight, so I have room for two to four more. But beyond that, there has to be a natural rotation.”

Verlinvest’s structure is designed to support this strategy. It doesn’t raise external capital or operate on fixed fund cycles. Instead, it recycles capital from past exits — such as Sula Vineyards and Purplle — back into the Indian market. “Our money comes from exits. When we sold our stake in Sula or Purplle, that capital went right back into new deals in India,” says Anand.

Long-Term, Patient Capital

Verlinvest is an evergreen investment firm operating on a balance sheet model, which allows it to hold, grow, or exit positions based on a company’s trajectory rather than fund cycle constraints.

Verlinvest’s journey with Sula Vineyards illustrates this well. The firm first invested in 2010, acquiring a 15% stake for $15 million (₹70 crore at the time). Between 2010 and 2014, it gradually increased its holding to 25%, and in 2018 — eight years after its initial investment — it doubled that to 50%. Verlinvest began exiting in phases between 2022 and February 2024. In 2023, it sold over 12% stake in a bulk deal, raking in over ₹500 crore. Its final exit came in February 2024, when it offloaded its remaining 8.34% stake for ₹434.89 crore via an open market transaction.

“This kind of holding period — 14 years from first cheque to final exit — is not possible for most private equity firms that don’t have permanent capital,” Anand says.

Having started in India with food and beverage investments, Verlinvest is now expanding its focus to digital-first brands, retail, and healthcare services.

The firm focuses on spotting early consumer behaviour shifts and backing businesses that are well-positioned to ride those trends. Categories like pet care and functional foods — which were niche or non-existent a few years ago — are now part of Verlinvest’s core portfolio, which Anand credits to early investments in brands like Heads Up For Tails and Epigamia. “When we backed Epigamia in 2016, the category was practically non-existent,” he recalls.

The firm sees healthcare as an especially promising frontier. “The consumerisation of healthcare is happening rapidly,” says Anand. “Earlier, we relied on family doctors for hospital referrals. Now, we can read hundreds of reviews online. This shift gives us a big opportunity to build healthcare service brands that directly engage with consumers.”

Its investment in Ferty9, where it holds an 80% stake, is a strategic move into this space, with plans to further identify companies in the space and expand its presence in the healthcare vertical.

Verlinvest is also optimistic about the rise of nutraceuticals — a broad space that includes dietary supplements, functional foods, and proactive health solutions such as protein and wellness-focused products. “It’s a repeatable habit — once consumers start using supplements, they tend to stick,” says Anand.

While healthcare services remain a big focus, this adjacent segment offers opportunities to build direct-to-consumer brands rooted in trust, efficacy, and daily use. Beauty is another area the firm continues to explore, but with caution. “It’s an exciting space, but incredibly crowded — you really need a clutter-breaking product and brand to stand out,” Anand notes.

As Verlinvest gears up to invest more deeply in India, its strategy remains clear: back exceptional consumer businesses, take meaningful stakes, and stick around for the long haul. “We’re not here for short wins,” Anand signs off. “We’re here to build enduring brands.”