Kairon Capital, a venture capital firm, launches a Rs 200 crore fund

Deepankur Malhotra, a former Amazon India executive who worked on investing in consumer brands, has launched a consumer-focused venture capital firm, Kairon Capital, targeting a corpus of Rs 200 crore, including a Rs 50-crore greenshoe option.

The firm has completed its first close at Rs 90 crore, raising capital from investors such as listed FMCG company Emami and several direct-to-consumer brand founders, including Saurabh Jain of Livspace, Rohit Chawla of Innovist and Yogesh Kabra of innerwear brand XYXX. Malhotra, who was also previously associated with mid-market private equity firm Olympus Capital, confirmed the development to ET.

“This is a very intentional limited partner base,” Malhotra said. “These are people who have built, scaled or enabled consumer businesses firsthand, along with family offices and strategic institutional and corporate capital that understands brands, distribution and scale.”

Kairon Capital plans to invest in around 14–15 startups, backing companies from the seed stage to early Series A. The fund will write cheques ranging between Rs 2 crore and Rs 14 crore per investment.

“The segment we are focused on sits between early experimentation and scaled institutional capital,” Malhotra said. “There are several consumer businesses that have validated what works but remain underserved when it comes to thoughtful, founder-aligned capital at the right stage.”

The consumer investing space already includes large multi-category venture firms such as Peak XV Partners, Z47 and Elevation Capital, alongside specialist consumer-focused funds. These include Fireside Ventures, which closed a Rs 2,265-crore fund in December to back Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumption trends; DSG Consumer Partners, which has invested in Supertails, Bombay Sweet Shop and Go Zero; and micro-VC Sauce VC, known for backing brands such as Hocco, Mokobara and The Whole Truth.

According to Malhotra, Kairon Capital aims to identify promising companies early, often before they formally enter fundraising cycles. “Some of the most compelling consumer businesses are being built quietly, with strong fundamentals and capital efficiency,” he said.

Following the first close, the firm has begun active deployment and is currently evaluating multiple opportunities across consumer categories. Kairon Capital expects to announce its initial investments in the coming months.