BluSmart investor lines up 4 more bets in India

NEW DELHI: Green Frontier Capital, which invests in green companies, is close to adding at least four more companies to its existing portfolio of seven Indian entities, which includes BluSmart, the ridehailing service, BatterySmart Swap and food firm Nutrifresh. Green Frontier Capital co-founder and managing partner Sandiip Bhammer told TOI that the thrust remains on climate with sustainable beauty products likely to be added to the consumer lifestyle segment, along with the other focus sectors — mobile, industrial processes and food technology.

Through its $200 millionfund, Green Frontier Capital has been taking small bets of $2-5 million, to acquire around 10% in companies such as BluSmart, which has seen its valuation zoom several times since the investment took place in March 2022. “The idea isto retain the shareholding by participating in subsequent rounds of fundraising,” Bhammer said.

He said that the company wants to take the learnings from India to invest in other markets as there are few fundslooking to invest in the space. Bhammer, however, said that there are some challenges to investing in India that need to be addressed. For instance, there is no climate venture policy in place. “Limited partners say that putting in place a policy will help them allocate more capital. They are not able to invest ‘khul ke’,” he said.

Dispute resolution is another area of concern as there are only a handful of investments that mature and there are often disputes on the way with minority investors such as VCs having no forum for early resolution. Bhammer further added that at the central level, the issue of climate is not centralised with one government agency.