The D2C market in India has been on the rise with statistics reporting that it has the potential of hitting 100 billion dollars by 2025. This exponential growth is as a result of several factors, such as Covid-19 outbreak, enhancing internet usage, development of various structures, and presence of a growing population of millennials in the country.
Currently, India has the third-largest global consumer base for online shopping, numbering over 190 million; therefore, it is a favourable environment for the development of original D2C brands.
Here Below The Top 15 D2C Brands in India
| Rank | Brand | Founded | Founders | Product Focus |
| 1 | 82°E | 2021 | Deepika Padukone, Jigar Shah | Skincare |
| 2 | Alphavedic | 2019 | Shrey Jain, Shruti Khare | Ayurvedic Beauty & Personal Care |
| 3 | Arata | 2017 | Dhruv Madhok, Dhruv Bhasin | Chemical-Free Personal Care |
| 4 | Atomberg | 2012 | Manoj Meena, Sibabrata Das | Energy-Efficient Home Appliances |
| 5 | Beco | 2019 | Aditya Ruia, Akshay Varma, Anuj Ruia | Sustainable Home & Personal Care |
| 6 | Bewakoof | 2012 | Prabhkiran Singh, Siddharth Munot | Fashion and Accessories |
| 7 | Beyoung | 2018 | Shivam Soni, Shivani Soni, Sakshi Soni, Shankar Mali | Youth Fashion |
| 8 | BlissClub | 2020 | Minu Margeret | Women’s Activewear |
| 9 | Bluestone | 2012 | Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Vidya Nataraj | Jewellery |
| 10 | boAt | 2016 | Aman Gupta, Sameer Mehta | Audio Electronics |
| 11 | Bold Care | 2020 | Rajat Jadhav, Rahul Krishnan, Harsh Singh, Mohit Yadav | Men’s Health |
| 12 | BoldFit | 2018 | Pallav Bihani | Fitness Paraphernalia |
| 13 | CaratLane | 2008 | Mithun Sacheti, Srinivasa Gopalan | Jewellery |
| 14 | Chaayos | 2012 | Nitin Saluja, Raghav Verma | Tea & Tea Products |
| 15 | Chai Point | 2010 | Amuleek Singh Bijral, Prof Tarun Khanna | Tea & Snacks |
1. 82°E: Celebrity-Backed Skincare
Source: Google
82°E is a new and luxurious skincare brand that was founded in 2021 and is owned by Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and Jigar Shah. The brand has a carefully selected range of four products in skincare that are moisturizers, face oil, cleanser, and sunscreen in a price range of INR 1,200 to INR 2, 900.
The fundamental difference of 82°E is the focus on the research and development, conducted in the testing laboratory in Bengaluru. The brand secured $7. Gets $5 million in seed funding in December 2022 to show investors the possibility of the stocks.
2. Alphavedic: Ayurvedic Beauty & Personal Care
Source: Google
A bootstrapped startup founded in the same year, 2019, by Shrey Jain and Shruti Khare, Alphavedic is a D2C company dealing in beauty and personal care products based on Ayurveda. Having 24 SKU in the product basket and having its operations in hair care products, shampoos, conditioners, lip balms, and creams.
The company’s name, Alphavedic, and the company’s current adherence to Ayurvedic medication and future plans to incorporate vitamins and supplements proves that the company is focused on living a healthy lifestyle.
In the niche, it operates alongside other brands such as The Ayurveda Company, Kapiva, Forest Essentials among others, and sells its products both in online and physical stores.
3. Arata: Chemical-Free Personal Care
Source: Google
Launched in 2017, by Dhruv Madhok and Dhruv Bhasin Arata first started with a hair gel made at home and has graduated to a total chemical-free beauty and skin care company. The incorporated name Arata comes from the Japanese meaning of fresh and new as a reference to the brand that offers new and innovative natural products to the market.
Arata’s products are hair gels, creams, shampoos, conditioner, toothpaste for your teeth, face wash, and serums. This aspect enjoys the use of recycled plastic for packaging and also gets its raw materials from organic farming certified avenues.
Arata already testified that more than 5 lakh customers and 7 lakh products’ sales volume before the middle of the calendar year, 2022, can be considered as one of the key players in the chemical-free personal care industry.
4. Atomberg: Energy-Efficient Home Appliances
Source: Google
Atomberg was incorporated in 2012 by Manoj Meena and Sibabrata Das and has quickly established itself in the market of energy efficient home appliances. It is specifically involved in the production of fans and mixer grinders and the primary area of the company’s interest is in more efficient or power friendly gadgetry.
There is truth in the fact that Atomberg has been valued as it was able to secure investments from notable investors like Deepika Padukone’s family office – KA Enterprises. The company announced this in May 2023, thus, securing $86 million in a Series C fundraising, and, in general, getting significant funding. Currently Atomberg has service centers spread all over India and has an annual revenue rate of INR 300 crore which depicts the company’s potential to grow more in the home appliances market.
5. Beco
Source: Google
Founded in 2019 by Aditya Ruia, Akshay Varma and Anuj Ruia, Beco is India’s leading voice in the sustainable living market. The brand comprises biodegradable and compostable products that are used in the kitchen, in the house, and for personal hygiene, tissue rolls, bamboo facial tissues, dishwashing liquid, toothbrushes, and garbage bags.
The way Beco Company has embraced sustainability has been liked by the consumers and investors. It closed its Series A in September 2022 with $3 million raised with the backing of Rukam Capital. As Beco forecasted reaching 10,000 stores throughout India, it has a great opportunity to take advantage of numerous people’s appreciation for environmentally friendly products.
6. Bewakoof: Quirky Fashion and Accessories
Source: Google
Bewakoof was founded in 2012 by Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot. The brand sells different types of clothes, writing materials, shoes, and covers for phones and other mobile gadgets; occasionally the pop culture references are Marvel and Marvel’s F. R. I. E. N. D. S, Star Wars and Disney, DC, and Looney Tunes.
The radical funding can be seen in the case of Bewakoof wherein the company has raised good funding rounds such as $8. It had earlier raised USD 09 million Pre-Series B round in August 2021 and received a big shot in the arm in December 2022 by getting INR 200 crore funding from Aditya Birla laden TMRW.
Bewakoof currently boasts of a customer base of 60 lakh and over 1 crore products sold; however, its sales target for the next five years is INR 2000 crore.
7. Beyoung: That is what youth fashion is all about.
Source: Google
Beyoung was launched in the year 2018 by Shivam Soni, Shivani Soni, Sakshi Soni and Shankar Mali which has already carved a niche for itself in the D2C apparel market targeting the youth. The core business of the company is to design and sell fashion wear available through its application, website and other online sales platforms based in Udaipur.
A little more about Beyoung, the company has crossed INR 100 crores turnover mark in the financial year 2022 to 2023. The firm has experienced success in its online stores alone to adapt to offline stores; The firm intends to open over a hundred outlets of Tier-II and Tier-III Indian cities by the end of 2023.
Don’t Miss: Top 10 Fashion Brands in Dubai
8. BlissClub: The Act of Wearing Activewear
operated by Minu Margeret and was launched in 2020, and BlissClub is now among the leading firms in the market for women’s activewear. The brand has a product portfolio starting from bottom wear, sports bras, tops, tees etc up to co-ords that are suitable to the Indian women.
The start-up has steadily grown since its inception; from 25x of sales within the last one year to the $15 million Series A funding it closed in May 2023. This year old startup wants to achieve an annual revenue of INR 100 crore by year-end of 2022, and has raised funding from Eight Roads Ventures, Elevation Capital and founders of major Companies like Swiggy, Mamaearth and Licious.
9. Bluestone: Revolutionizing the Jewellery Industry
Source: Google
Starting B2C operations in 2012, Bluestone has grown as a pioneer of the D2C jewellery model initiated by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj.
Bluestone’s use of the omnichannel strategy and its emphasis on quality have received lots of money from investors, with a $30 million round closed in March 2023 that valued Bluestone at $410 million. The financial health of the brand is also equally good; the company has recorded INR 269 Cr as the revenue for FY 2020-21 with 5% year on year growth and constrained its losses by 43%.
10. boAt
Source: Google
The company started in 2016 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta and enjoys a massive popular information technology audio electronics brand. Having pocket friendly products and presenting the products in style the brand targets technology oriented Indian customers with products such as earphones, headphones and speakers.
Looking at the financial health of boAt we can see that the company has had a tremendous year, its revenues have increased by 117%. From 5 percent year-on-year to INR 2,886. 4 crore in FY22. The upward growth path of the has encouraged massive investment with Warburg Pincus, and Malabar Investments, closing a $61 million round in October 2022.
11. Bold Care
Bold Care was launched in the year 2020 by Rajat Jadhav, Rahul Krishnan, Harsh Singh and Mohit Yadav and the company claims to be a one-stop solution for men’s health fitness. The brand concentrates on sexual health, hair treatment, and everyday nutrition; thus, it includes sexual health kits, hair care packs, and natural supplements.
The focused strategy of Bold Care has been appreciated by consumers; it has served over 2. 3 lakh men till now, they said. The startup is funded to the tune of $3 million and some of its investors include Sharp Ventures, Anthill Ventures and Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs.
12. BoldFit: Empowering Fitness Enthusiasts
Source: Google
Originally launched in December 2018, by Pallav Bihani, BoldFit is today one of the most popular brands for fitness paraphernalia online. The startup deals with different types of nutritional supplements for health and fitness, including even equipment for workout and every product is registered with FSSAI.
Reliability is evident from the firmed up suppliers for production with manufacturing firms that are WHO-GMP approved. From the financial records, the brand appears to be very ambitious and viable with a recorded income of INR 63 crore in the FY22 and sells more than five million products.
With the annual revenue growth of 205% and number of customers 2. 5 million, thus demonstrating the potential of the company for further development in the sphere of fitness and healthy lifestyles.
13. CaratLane
Source: Google
CaratLane is an online jewellery store that was established in 2008 by Mithun Sacheti and Srinivasa Gopalan.
A multi-concept store approach is effectively used in the marketing of products by the company.
This year of 2019, Titan Company which is the part of Tata Group invests INR 99. offers from 40 per cent to 9 crore in CaratLane and hence has become a 66 percent owner. 39%. Later, in a development in August 2023, Tata Group intimated its intentions to buy an extra 27.
Calcutta Universal has 18 per cent stake in CaratLane for a worth of INR 4,621 crore. After the successful execution of this particular deal, Tata will have control of about 98 percent of the consolidated business. Tata currently owns 28% of CaratLane and has placed the jewellery startup’s worth at INR 17,000 crore ($2 billion).
In the consolidated auditor communicated report for the extension of FY23, CaratLane’un fiscal comprehensive income was INR 2,169 crore. Furthermore, the gross sales increased to INR 1,405 crore whereas the net sales value (NSV) rose to INR 571 crore in FY23, which is a 56 percent rise. 7% up than that of FY22.
14. Chaayos
Source: Google
It originated in the year 2012 having its founders Nitin Saluja along with Raghav Verma, is involved in the production and sale of tea along with a range of tea products. Its tea is then distributed to physical stores, however other packaged food products are available through online stores and physical shops.
Chaayos in June 2022 raised $53m in Series C funding, co-led by Elevation Capital, Think Investments, Tiger Global and Alpha wave ventures taking the total funding raised by the company to $85. 5 million.
15. Chai Point
Based in Mumbai, Chai Point started operations in 2010 with Amuleek Singh Bijral, and Prof Tarun Khanna as the founders and uses multiple sales channels successfully selling a range of products including tea and snacks. The company’s first retail outlet was launched in the year 2010, home delivery of the famous teas was started in 2014, and the vending machines for tea as well as coffee were initiated in 2016.
Chai Point has raised a $20 million Series C round in 2018. Based until now, it has already secured $36 million in equity funding from its investors among which are Paragon Partners, Eight Roads, Saama Capital, and DSG.
Chai Point generated operating revenues of INR 55 in the financial year 2020-21 . 95 crore, have a loss after tax of INR 78 crore only. The is a year to year basis, but as of the Maxvenus FY 2018-19 it stood at INR 49 crore, as per Tofler.
Conclusion
It is the re-emerging of traditional brands in the contemporary market of India majorly due to shifting consumer behaviour, use of technologies, and evolving business strategies.
The case of 82°E, Arata, Atomberg, Bewakoof, Bliss Club, Bluestone, boAt and other brands gives a clear indication about the great future of D2C business in the Indian market. They have not only gained business share but also received reputed investments from the investor side, which in turn depicts strong investors’ interest in the D2C segment.
