PE-backed Nobel Hygiene snags $17 mn from existing investor Sixth Sense Ventures

NEW DELHI: Nobel Hygiene Pvt. Ltd., the Mumbai-based diaper maker, on Wednesday said it has secured ₹132 crore, or around $17 million, in a Series C funding round from its existing investor Sixth Sense Ventures.

The company plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to boost its growth trajectory and further scale manufacturing.

With the latest funding, Nobel Hygiene claims to have become Sixth Sense’s largest investment in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment. The fundraise is also the largest tranche of its primary investment so far.

Nobel’s latest fundraise comes more than a year after it raised ₹450 crore to ₹500 crore in a funding led by Quadria Capital. The round saw Sixth Sense Ventures buying shares in an independent parallel transaction from other angel investors, while private equity investors CLSA Capital Partners, Access India fund, and co-investors exited the investment.

In 2015, CLSA Capital Partners invested $10 million in Nobel Hygiene, while in 2013, Access co-invested with other individual investors in a deal worth around $11.5 million in the company.

Founded in 2000, Nobel Hygiene makes adult diapers, maternity pads, adult pull-ups, under pads, nappy pads and baby diapers. It markets its baby diapers under the Teddyy and Snuggy brands while adult incontinence products are sold under the Friends brand.

“Now that our factory expansion in Gujarat is complete, we are poised to manufacture more, better, and faster to meet increasing demands across the country. This, alongside the investment, will help us progress towards our goals in the coming years, making up for the Covid slump the industry experienced in the last few years,” said Kamal Johari, MD and CEO at Nobel Hygiene.

“Nobel fits perfectly well into the Sixth Sense thesis of betting on first generation founders….we have been big believers in this category, one of the few consumer categories that ensures high frequency, brand loyalty along with a long consumer lifecycle,” said Nikhil Vora, Founder & CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures.

 Sixth Sense was founded in 2014 by Nikhil Vora, former managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. He was also an early investor in the Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd, and walked away with a 75-fold gain on the investment by selling his stake to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. In July, it invested in travel accessories brand Acefour. Its investments in Veeba Foods, Soothe Healthcare (Paree), LEAP India, Fullife, and Eupheus Learning are some examples of the firm’s successful bets over the years.

In January, VCCircle had reported that Nobel Hygiene Pvt Ltd was in talks with several homegrown and global private equity funds to raise a fresh primary round of funding, in what is likely to be the diaper maker’s pre-IPO transaction.

 The company’s last round was struck at a post money valuation of $145 million, as per VCCEdge, the data intelligence platform of VCCircle.