DTC’s Daily Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer and challenger brands. In today’s edition: Wipro backs LetsShave; Founders Factory invests to encourage student innovation; and Dahmakan raises for cloud kitchen delivery. 

Wipro backs LetsShave

Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, the VC arm of Indian fast-moving consumer goods company Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, has made an undisclosed amount of investment in local personal care brand LetsShave.

Founded in 2015, LetsShave designs and manufactures razor blades, which it sells directly to consumers online. It initially catered to the male and female grooming markets before expanding to body care, skincare, and electric trimmer products.

It has a partnership with South Korean razor manufacturer Dorco, which has a 10% stake in LetsShave and is a global supplier to other personal grooming companies such as Dollar Shave Club.

According to Sumit Keshan, managing partner at Wipro Consumer Ventures, the investment in LetsShave is in line with the company’s strategy of capitalising on online opportunities, targeting millennials. “We plan to increase our portfolio in innovative startups in consumer brands and consumer-tech domains both in India and Southeast Asia,” he said.

Wipro Consumer Ventures was set up late last year to invest in startups in the digital and e-commerce spaces, as well as those in other industries that adopt novel approaches to reach consumers.

Founders Factory invests to encourage student innovation

Founders Factory has invested in Creator Fund, the student-led venture capital fund. It has launched in the UK but plans to spread abroad to unearth startup innovation within European universities. It will use a network of “student VCs” in university campuses to invest in new technology ventures and student founders.

The idea here is that students invest in their peers, offering an alternative route to growth for university-based startups. So far it has people signed up in 14 UK universities and offers up to £30,000 investment per startup. Equity is determined on a “case-by-case” basis.

The fund intends to make about seven investments over the next 12 months. The VC has already made an investment in Imperial College London-based, Refund Giant — a service that syncs with credit and debit cards to automatically issue fast, hands-free VAT refunds for travellers.

Dahmakan raises for cloud kitchen delivery

Dahmakan, a full-stack food delivery startup based in Malaysia, announced that it has closed a USD$18m Series B. This brings Dahmakan’s total funding to about USD$28m. Its previous round of financing was announced last May.

Launched by former executives from FoodPanda, Dahmakan was the first Malaysian startup to participate in Y Combinator’s startup accelerator program. Operational costs for food delivery companies are notoriously high, and eat away at their profitability, but Dahmakan is among several startups that use “cloud” kitchens, located closer to customers, in order to reduce delivery costs.

The foundation of the startup’s full-stack platform is an operating system that controls nearly every step of its operations, from recipe development to last-mile delivery, and its cloud kitchens are part of “satellite” hubs placed around different cities to be closer to customers.

Instead of delivering from restaurants, Dahmakan creates its own meals, offering about 40 options each week from a database of 2,000 dishes. It selects its weekly menu based on customer data, including food preferences and spending habits, along with market research.

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