Lighthouse, a middle market private equity firm focused on growth investments in India’s consumer sector, on Monday said it has invested Rs76 crore in V2 Retail Ltd. The investment will be used to accelerate V2 Retail’s store expansion plans, the private equity fund said in a statement.“V2 Retail provides a one-stop apparel shopping solution for the complete family, offering a wide, diverse range of apparel at everyday affordable prices. The company caters to the aspirational, but value-focused retail consumer, who otherwise had to resort to smaller, unorganized outlets for his or her apparel needs,” the statement said.

For FY17, the company achieved revenue of approximately Rs470 crore, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in excess of 60% over the last five years. Currently, V2 Retail has 44 stores across 13 states in India and is targeting a store count of 100 in the next two to three years.

“We plan to further penetrate in our core markets, such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, due to large number of high potential tier II and III cities, which remain significantly under-penetrated in terms of organized retail,” said Ram Chandra Agarwal, chairman and managing director of V2 Retail.

Lighthouse’s other investments in the consumer space include Bikaji Foods, Capital Trust, Cera Sanitaryware, Dhanuka Agritech, FabIndia Overseas, Kama Ayurveda, Suraksha Diagnostic, Unibic Foods and XSEED Education.

“We have been witnessing a structural change in the Indian retail landscape over the past few years, and are very excited to partner with V2 Retail. India has added more than 400 million consumers into the middle-income bucket over the past 15 years. It is this bucket which is driving consumerism in India and V2 Retail is well positioned to cater to this aspiration which presents a strong tailwind for growth,” said Sachin Bhartiya, partner, Lighthouse Advisors.

Shares of V2 Retail Ltd rose 6.57% to Rs478 on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex gained 0.62% to 32,633.64 points.

(As published in Mint on Tue, Octber 17 2017. )