Kairon Capital

The empowered consumer is dramatically reshaping the way successful companies start, grow and scale their brands - driving a consumer renaissance. We are an investment partner for visionaries building exceptional brands at this intersection of commerce + influence. SILAS CAPITAL WAS FORMED to be a unique and ideal investment partner to entrepreneurs building businesses in the rapidly evolving consumer space - providing both growth and venture capital. We invest in visionaries creating the next generation of consumer brands. WE ALIGN OURSELVES with the needs of the entrepreneurs we serve, where flexible capital is the right kind of capital. We invest in ‘emerging’ growth stage consumer brands through Silas Capital - and in venture-stage consumer & enabling tech through Silas Ventures. AS FOUNDERS & INVESTORS we've built thriving consumer companies from scratch and have been consumer investors for 10+ years. Being hands-on, we help companies achieve faster growth and increased profitability by leveraging our own operating experiences and resources. OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO AMPLIFY the capabilities and "magic" that entrepreneurs bring - and together create long-term value, superior brand recognition and increased market share - while allowing founders to maintain both creative and shareholder control.

Our approach keeps founders at the heart of everything we do. We areConviction-led: We value independent decision-making and lead all our investments. Long-term partners: We stay fully committed to founders' vision, no matter how long it takes. Sector specialists: We each focus on specific sectors to build a deep, informed point of view that fuels our investment strategy and portfolio support. Transparent: We keep founders in the loop and prioritize honest communication, making us partners they never have to second-guess. Engaged: We believe in staying actively involved through meaningful board participation and functional support. Our journey started like many other startups – in a Bengaluru basement 2016 When we set out to raise our first fund, the Indian VC landscape was shaky at best. Investors were cautious, several foreign VC majors had left the ecosystem, and successful exits were hard to come by. Amidst skepticism about the Indian market, we defiantly believed that the "golden decade" of Indian technology was upon us. We saw an opportunity for VC 2.0 in India – one that was stage-focused, expertise-driven, and committed to prioritizing real growth alongside valuations. Undeterred by a tough fundraising climate, we knocked on 1,200 doors to raise Stellaris’ first fund. These early struggles shaped Stellaris’ culture, allowing us to fully resonate with the fundraising challenges faced by early-stage entrepreneurs. 2017 We launched our first fund of $90 million. From the outset, we established a principle of having specialists on our team, enabling us to tap into deep sector knowledge, spot promising opportunities, and provide tailored support to the companies we backed. Out of our 19 investments in our first fund, 9 surpassed a valuation of $100 million, with several others on track to achieve this milestone. 2021 We closed our second fund of $225M and backed 25 companies, many of which are poised to become the leaders of tomorrow. We also had our first significant exit in the portfolio when 6Sense, a US SaaS company, acquired Slintel, in which Stellaris was the first institutional investor. 2023 Our portfolio company, Mamaearth, which we backed at the Series A stage in 2018, successfully completed its IPO. 2024 We launched our third fund of $300M and are now managing over $600M in assets. We're ready to support the next wave of innovative businesses with the same grit and determination that brought us here.

Most successful founders agree that in their journey from 0 to 1 their mind swayed in all directions every single day. The ideas they generated needed validation before they could put those to execution. They were also aware that meaningful validation would come only from people who knew more, simply because they had been in the situation more and done more themselves. In fact, we strongly believe, seeking validation does not label a founder as incompetent. It instead suggests that the founder is open to accepting criticism, learning fast from feedback, fixing what needs fixing and getting better every single day. What do the founders really need? Having built several consumer brands ourselves and worked closely with over a hundred early-stage founders, we saw a clear need for the founders to scratch their perpetual itch but with the help of meaningful domain and industry experts. We realised, the time was apt to give back. With this in mind, was born Startup Sherpas - a mission to give back to the buzzing ecosystem of consumer goods and D2C startups in India. With the country’s D2C market set to explode beyond a $100 bn by 2025, backed by strong macroeconomic tailwinds, there isn’t a better time to build consumer businesses that can become behemoth brands in the future.

The 12 Flags Group aims to become the leading consumer investment platform in India. As a first step, we are launching the 12 Flags India Consumer Fund in 2023. The consumer fund will focus on the most promising, early growth businesses in India that we believe we can scale to deliver superior returns. We believe some of these businesses can also go on to become platforms for future growth via category expansion and M & A. Our team has a proven track record of creating categories and brands across the globe. Our core purpose is to be the best partner for the next generation of consumer businesses. India First: Building categories and brands designed for the Indian consumer versus being replicas of western models. Patient, Longterm Capital: To help Indian start ups think longer term and do the right thing, even if it is detrimental to short term profits. Building a “Good” company: To encourage management teams to do build transparency, good governance and right values that create value for ALL stakeholders. Our PrinciplesBest Partner: Invest in companies where we will be the best partner. Values: The values of our firm are responsibility, ownership, entrepreneurship, innovation and partnership. Governance Principles: Our firm’s governance principles are based on trust, mutuality and transparency. Principal Investor: We aim to become the principal investor in our best portfolio companies over time.

PAPA OSCAR was founded in 2017 and is one of the leading e-commerce accelerators for lifestyle brands in Europe. We offer our portfolio companies not only financial, but also strategic and operational support, as well as access to an international network. To build a successful and sustainable lifestyle company, it is essential to have the right mix of marketing tools, a sustainable organisational structure, operational support and optimised processes. This is why we have developed a new venture capital approach: We combine capital and comprehensive operational support, offering our companies exclusive access to expert teams in marketing (online & offline), sales, business and product strategy, product development and IT. Our goal is to create value from day one - and not just with capital. Who we are looking for We invest in people, not products. You, your team and your ambitions are our top priority. A great product and new innovation is little without a passionate, focused and tenacious entrepreneur. That's why we invest in people, not products. Seed & Early Stage We support creative projects that are in an early growth phase and help you expand your business and build sustainable brands. We are looking for innovative business ideas with ambitious founders. D2C / Lifestyle We work almost exclusively with D2C / e-commerce brands. Our portfolio includes products in the categories jewellery and accessories, sports, men's, women's and children's clothing, home & interior and food. Central and Southern Europe In addition to the original investment focus on the German-speaking region, we have also been investing in founders and brands from the Southern European market since the opening of a further location in Barcelona.

Tengelmann Ventures is an early-stage Venture Capital firm focused on empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs on their mission to (i) preserve life and environment, (ii) simplify everyday life and (iii) individualize products and services to changing needs. Founded in 2009, Tengelmann Ventures invests primarily in consumer-centric B2C and B2B businesses within the DACH region. TENGELMANN STANDS FORCONSUMER KNOWLEDGE: Decades of experience in dealing with consumers. SUSTAINABILITY HERITAGE: Taking responsibility for sustainability: a track-record in addressing sustainability matters from early days. ENTREPRENEURIAL DNA: An entrepreneurial platform providing freedom and patience – dedicated to long-term growth. EXTENSIVE NETWORK: An extensive high-caliber network of entrepreneurs, advisors and leaders, particularly in Europe and North America. PATIENT CAPITAL: A family business thinking in generations and therefore long-term orientation. ACTIVE INVESTOR: The aspiration to act as an active entrepreneurial partner.