Naturohabit Private Ltd, the parent company of the direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty and wellness care brand Nat Habit, secured $10.2 million (INR 85 crore) in its Series B funding round, with Bertelsmann India Investments taking the lead.
Participation in the funding round extended to Fireside Ventures, an existing investor, along with Amazon India Fund, Mirabilis Investment Trust, and Sharrp Ventures, all contributing to the company’s capitalization.
The New Delhi-based startup is set to deploy the recently secured capital for research and development, product diversification, brand building, offline expansion, and talent acquisition.
Established in 2019 by Swagatika Das and Gaurav Agarwal, Nat Habit specializes in providing organic skincare products, including hair oils, masks, scrubs, and face creams.
Allocating approximately $2 million from the recent funding round, the startup has expressed its intention to facilitate exits for its early-stage backers. This move aims to provide returns of 4.5-5 times their initial investment over a four-year period.
In April last year, Nat Habit raised $4 million in its Series A funding round led by Fireside Ventures.
The startup presently boasts an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of INR 82 crore and is targeting a growth of over 4 times, aiming for an INR 350 crore ARR within the next two years.
The Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) market in India, poised to reach $100 billion by 2025, has experienced substantial growth in recent years. Factors such as the Covid pandemic, increased internet penetration, the expansion of digital infrastructure, and the growing millennial population have contributed to the rise of D2C brands. This sector has garnered significant attention from investors over the past few years.
For instance, last month saw Innovist, the parent entity of D2C consumer brands Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play, raise $7 million in its Series A funding round led by Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund.
Numerous other current investors, such as 72 Ventures, the family office of Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar, former KKR India head Sanjay Nayar, Accel India, and Sauce.vc, also joined in the funding round.
With over 190 million digital shoppers, India possesses the world’s third-largest online shopping base. It is within this expanding ecosystem that modern Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands aspire to thrive, leveraging the increasing appetite of Indian consumers for innovation and the diminishing loyalty toward traditional players.
Within this figure, startups in the fashion and clothing sector exhibit the greatest potential and are anticipated to reach a valuation of $43.2 billion by the year 2025.
Certain emerging Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands, such as Mamaearth, CaratLane, and Nua, achieved the INR 100 crore revenue milestone in just a few years.