Our approach
Patient capital. Progressive ventures.
How we choose ventures, what we contribute, and what working with Sahaji actually looks like — stage by stage.
Investment thesis
Dispersion, not size, determines outcomes.
The wellness economy is one of the largest consumer categories in the world, and it is growing faster than global health expenditure.
The drivers are demographic and structural rather than fashionable: an ageing population, rising chronic disease, escalating mental health need, and a decisive consumer and policy shift from treatment toward prevention. These are not conditions that reverse within an investment horizon.
But aggregate market size is a poor guide to capital allocation. The material insight is dispersion. Forecast annual growth to 2029 ranges from above 15% in the fastest sector to near 2% in the slowest — a spread of roughly seven times. Sector selection, not category exposure, determines outcomes.
| Sector | Forecast growth to 2029 | Sahaji position |
|---|---|---|
| Wellness real estate | ~15% p.a. | Core — Spaces |
| Traditional & complementary medicine | ~11% p.a. | Core — Products, Spaces |
| Mental wellness | ~10% p.a. | Core — Brands, Spaces |
| Thermal & mineral springs | ~10% p.a. | Core — Spaces |
| Wellness tourism | ~9% p.a. | Selective — Spaces |
| Healthy eating & nutrition | ~7% p.a. | Selective — Products |
| Personal care & beauty | ~5% p.a. | Opportunistic — Brands |
| Workplace wellness | ~2% p.a. | Avoid |
Source: Global Wellness Institute, Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2025.
What is changing
The market is correcting away from optimisation.
The most important near-term signal for a wellness investor is not a growth rate but a change in disposition. After a decade in which sleep was scored, glucose graphed and ageing tracked, wellbeing shifted from something felt to something performed correctly. The market is now correcting toward meaning over measurement, and nervous-system safety over self-surveillance.
Three consequences shape where we deploy capital. Place is beating device: the fastest-growing spaces are social saunas, bathhouses, somatic studios and low-stimulation retreats — ritual rather than endurance. Nervous-system regulation is becoming its own category, spanning both consumer neurotech and re-framed practices such as breathwork and somatic movement. And longevity is moving into real estate and into women's health, two of the clearest structural corrections in the category.
Our thesis is aligned with this correction rather than exposed to it. A portfolio built on spaces, rituals, community and evidence-led products gains from a consumer moving away from dashboards. A portfolio built on wearables and optimisation metrics does not.
The filter
Six tests, applied in sequence.
A venture must pass all six. We publish them so founders can self-assess before investing time, and so our own decisions stay disciplined.
Innate demand
Would this venture have customers in the absence of a trend cycle?
Organic demand, unpaid referral, retention through category downturns
Evidence and integrity
Can every claim survive a regulator, a journalist and a sceptical clinician?
Substantiation files, conservative labelling, qualified practitioners
Repeatable ritual
Does the customer return without being reacquired?
Repeat purchase rate, membership retention, visit frequency cohorts
Margin architecture
Do the unit economics improve or deteriorate with scale?
Contribution margin by cohort, fully loaded site or SKU economics
Operator alignment
Does the founder want a partner, or a buyer?
Willingness to be governed, clarity on their own next five years
Portfolio adjacency
What does this venture gain from Sahaji, and Sahaji from it?
A specific, nameable commercial connection to an existing pillar
Exclusions
Clarity about exclusions saves everyone time.
Sahaji does not invest in ventures making therapeutic claims they cannot substantiate; multi-level or network marketing structures; ventures whose economics depend primarily on paid acquisition arbitrage; workplace wellness programmatic services; pure software plays without a physical or product anchor; or ventures whose founders are seeking an exit rather than a partner.
The process
Eleven weeks, and you always know where you stand.
Founders are entitled to know how long a process takes and what happens at each point. The timeline below is indicative, and varies with the complexity of the venture and the syndication required.
Stage 1 · Introduction and alignment
An initial conversation, a short written summary from you, and a first pass against the Filter. Our objective is a fast, honest read. If a venture fails a test we cannot resolve, we say so here rather than at stage four, and we explain which test and why. You will need: a business summary, twelve months of financials or the pre-revenue equivalent, and a clear statement of what you are seeking.
Stage 2 · Diagnostic
Commercial, financial and operational review conducted jointly rather than adversarially. We examine unit economics, cohort behaviour, regulatory exposure and — for spaces — site fundamentals and fit-out economics. In parallel we prepare a value-creation map: the specific, named contributions Sahaji and the syndicate would make in your first twelve months. That map, not the valuation, is the substance of the partnership discussion.
Stage 3 · Structure and syndication
Structure follows the venture's development cycle, not a template. Instruments include direct equity, convertibles, joint venture entities for site-based ventures, and property-and-operating splits where the real estate and the operation warrant separate ownership. Where a position exceeds our direct allocation or benefits from a specialist partner, we syndicate to the network.
Stage 4 · Partnership and build
Governance is deliberately light and deliberately regular: a monthly operating rhythm, quarterly board or advisory meetings, and access to the Sahaji Platform from day one. The value-creation map becomes the working agenda, reviewed quarterly against delivery — ours as well as yours.
Stage 5 · Compound or realise
Because we are evergreen, the default is to hold. A realisation happens only when it serves the venture: when a strategic acquirer can take it further than the syndicate can, when your own objectives require liquidity, or when the concentration risk of continuing outweighs the compounding.
Beyond capital
What partnership actually delivers.
Stated as specific capabilities rather than a claim of “value-add,” because founders have learned to discount the latter.
Capital structuring
Instruments suited to your cycle; follow-on capacity without a new fundraise; syndication beyond our direct allocation
Syndicate co-investment
A network of operators and investors bringing category expertise alongside capital
Brand and creative
Identity, packaging, environmental and digital design at portfolio cost rather than agency cost
Site and property access
Landlord and developer relationships, precinct tenancy pathways, site selection and lease support
Distribution and channel
Retail and wholesale introductions, cross-portfolio placement, Asia-Pacific channel development
Regulatory and compliance
TGA, food standards, health practitioner and local approval navigation; conservative claim substantiation
Operator talent
A recruiting network for senior roles, and the ability to move proven operators between ventures
Shared services
Finance and reporting, legal templates, insurance, procurement, marketing operations and technology, at cost
Cross-portfolio agreements
Formal arrangements between ventures — supply, placement, co-marketing, shared membership — that create revenue rather than goodwill