We are a venture capital fund with a dedicated consumer focus and a high-engagement model. Partnering with startups in the F&B, personal care, apparel/lifestyle segments, we work with brands who dare to disrupt the market.
You got an idea? We got everything to put it together.
Every startup journey begins with an amalgamation of several ingredients coming together. You procure a little of everything from everywhere, but you still need that perfect sauce to make it all work. Here at Sauce, we are happy to get our hands messy. Come partner with us, where we can create the recipe of success, together!
Focused Strategy
A razor-sharp focus on consumer startups
Selective Deals
If you have it in you, we’ve got you.
Superior Performance through High Engagement
Assistance at every stage on every key aspect. Grow faster and smarter with our expert help.
EXIT SMART
Investing early, exiting smart
CORE TEAM
Manu Chandra
Senior private investment professional who has been actively investing in the early stage consumer space. Manu’s passion for this space has led him to launch Sauce.vc. He was previously a Director at 3i Group, an FTSE listed UK headquartered private equity firm. He managed investments worth ₹2,000Cr+ there, investing across early to growth stages in sectors such as entertainment, industrials, infrastructure. He has driven exits via secondary sales and also taken his portfolio companies to successful IPOs. Manu has served as a director on the boards of several mid to large companies in India. Prior to 3i, he has had startup experience establishing Grail Research, a research and consulting firm, as one of its founding members and Chief of Staff. Manu also served Fortune 500 clients as a marketing and strategy consultant at Monitor Group. Prior to that, he worked in the consumer banking division of Citibank in sales and operations roles. Manu is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad where he was awarded the Ratan Tata Scholarship for academic excellence and the Lehman Bros Scholarship for attending the exchange program at Anderson Business School at UCLA. He is a Computer Engineer from Delhi University.
Yash Dholakia
Yash is a senior member of the investing team at Sauce. An investment professional for nearly a decade, he has a strong passion for consumer brands and businesses. He started his career as a marketer, building multiple iconic brands in real estate, before moving to investing. He was the founding member at Tomorrow Capital, an early stage consumer focused VC, where he built the team and led investments worth over INR 100 Cr in consumer businesses like Generico (now Zeno Health), Leverage Edu, Bonito Designs, and BeyondSkool. He was on the Board and played a key role in scaling up Generico, helped with setting up key functions and strategic hiring, and delivered a multi-bagger cash exit for the fund. Prior to that, he worked at a family office in Singapore where he handled investments across asset classes in the Asia Pacific region. Yash is an MBA (PGDM) from IIM Ahmedabad and a Chemical Engineer from ICT Mumbai.
Zoeb Ali Khan
Zoeb is a founding member of Sauce.vc. He has experience in consumer and technology startups. Previously he was a Project Manager at Myra, a Matrix Partners portfolio startup. He was also responsible for marketing activities, branding campaigns, and consumer research there. Prior to that, Zoeb was an associate at Wingify Software where he worked on CRM and sales automation projects. He holds a BBS (Finance) degree from College of Business Studies, Delhi University.
Karan Kathpalia
Karan joins the investment team to help widen our reach in assisting the portfolio. Prior to Sauce, Karan was an Analyst at the marquee Canadian pension fund CDPQ. He has previously worked at a multi-billion-dollar family investment office based out of Dubai after which he pursued a career in treasury sales and trading at a leading Indian private sector bank based out of Mumbai. He also holds a Bachelors in Management Studies from University of Nottingham, and a Masters in International Business.
Mansi Periwal
Mansi is an Analyst at Sauce.vc. She has previously worked as a Finance Manager with P&G in London, where she undertook strategic decisions for leading brands such as Gillette and Oral-B. Prior to that, she worked for two years with Citibank as a Corporate Banking Analyst. She holds a Masters in Financial Analysis degree from London Business School and a Bachelors in Economics degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Delhi University.
Vasundhara Bhagat
Vasundhara joins the investment team as a Junior Analyst. Prior to this, she has previously worked at Impact Consulting on start-up advisory projects and interned at Sauce for 6 months during which she led strategic initiatives for our portfolio companies. She hold a Bachelors in Economics degree from Calcutta University
Meenakshi Agarwal
Meenakshi has joined Sauce team as Team Executive Assistant. Prior to joining Sauce she was associated with Instaoffice as Executive Assistant to Co- Founder and handled Admin, operational and HR related roles. Earlier to this she had worked with Apeejay Stay, National Stock Exchange and ICICI bank with experience in Sales and Operations role. She had completed her PGDM in HR and Marketing from Asia Pacific Institute of Management studies.
Govind Shrikhande
Apparel/Retail
Shripad Nadkarni
Brand Development
Arjun Purkayastha
Rohan Mirchandani
Food and Beverages
Prashant Chhaya
Manufacturing
Our service partners are well established and known in their respective fields. They will work with our portfolio companies through tripartite agreements facilitated by Sauce.vc
