Oliphans Capital invests $2 million in Prothom, manufacturer and exporter of toys

Oliphans Capital, a unique early stage investment firm has invested $2 million in Prothom, a contract manufacturer and exporter of toys. Prothom was founded in 2014 by Arun Chandrachud.  It has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Pune.

Commenting on the latest investment, Anish Jhaveri, Founder, Oliphans Capital said, “We are very bullish on Prime Minister’s campaign of ‘Make In India’ and were on the lookout for a manufacturing opportunity, an area which is not sought after by venture capitalists. In Prothom we see a $200 million opportunity over the next 2 years. India is fast becoming very cost competitive vs China in terms of labour costs and we are very bullish on the toy industry – globally. In Prothom, we see a beginning of manufacturing startups being funded in India. “

Prothom today employs close to 300 women in its factory and has an additional team of 70 people to manage the business. Prothom focuses on creating world-class operations and manufacturing systems , without losing focus on ethics.

It believes that with its domain expertise in plastics, mechatronics, and high volume assembly, it will be able to garner a large share in India’s growing outsourced toy manufacturing industry. It also plans to diversify its customer base by 2016-17.

Arun Chandrachud, Managing Director, Prothom said, “We started Prothom with the aim of highlighting the manufacturing capabilities in India to the world. Being appointed as the key manufacturer for Hasbro has been a big win. Our client is stringent with its standards for not just engineering capabilities but also for standards in plastic and other engineering skills. We are happy that they found us fitting for their first outsourcing engagement in India.This is at variance with the perception that India is not cost competitive vs China in manufacturing.”

Oliphans Capital, a unique early stage investment firm, was founded in 2012 byAnish Jhaveri and Mohit Gulati. It typically invests in the range of  $ 0.5 - 3.0 million and is unique in its ability to provide both equity and debt capital to its investee companies.

W