Businesses Focusing On ESG Factor Will Emerge As Winners: Lightbox’s Sandeep Murthy

The businesses that focus on the environmental and social aspects while building their products are the ones who would emerge as the winners in the next 10 years, believes Sandeep Murthy, partner at venture capital firm Lightbox.

Speaking at Inc42’s ‘The D2C Summit 3.0’, Murthy said one of the biggest trends that is emerging and finding prominence across the world is the clear movement towards being more socially responsible, and one cannot decide to build a business today oblivious to the reality that the world needs to solve the persistent environmental, job creation, and other issues. 

“As our per capita income grows across categories in the country, you should start to see people moving from their basic needs to now wants, and (as that happens) entrepreneurs here in this forum are the ones that are going to determine how those consumers consume,” said Murthy, adding that the entrepreneurs have a chance to ask consumers not to buy in a wasteful manner or to be mindful of the products and their source.

“The models that we can create… it doesn’t have to be about fast fashion, it doesn’t have to be about just general irreverence to the impact to the world around you. We can be more thoughtful and I think that’s going to be exciting. And if I think about the next 10 years, those are the businesses that are going to win,” Murthy added.

He believes that businesses should stand for some values and principles, and for early-stage investors like Lightbox, who look to invest in a startup for at least seven to ten years, these broader trends play an important role.

In fact, the growing focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors is clearly visible across the world with various stakeholders, including the government and corporates, pushing towards adoption of greener means of doing business and living life.

Murthy also stressed the importance of valuing customer experience for brands to succeed and opined that funding crunch during an economic downturn shouldn’t be a key factor to focus on.

The Day 1 of the event saw top D2C founders like Aman Gupta of boAt, Bala Sarda of Vahdam India, Manish Chowdhary of WOW Skin Science, Shantanu Deshpande of Bombay Shaving Company, among others, share their understanding and knowledge about building and scaling D2C brands in the country. 

As per Inc42’s analysis, India’s ecommerce market is set to surpass the $400-Bn mark by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2022 and 2030. Within it, the total addressable market for D2C brands is estimated to surpass the $302-Bn mark by 2030.