Cling to Desi Zing🥤
Desi Zings, Healthy Chows, Classy Barware & Trouvaille and updates from GlobalBees!
👋 Hey!
GlobalBees D2C Pulse is back to light up your day with exciting new content on the direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecosystem in India - start-ups, funding, acquisitions, partnerships, and more. If you missed our previous editions, check them out here!
The year 2021 was dope for the Indian start-up ecosystem with more than 40 start-ups becoming unicorns and investments worth USD 42 bn. This leapfrog growth deserves kudos, right? Well, the govt. agrees - January 16th has been declared by PM Modi as National Start-up Day as this day marks the initiation of the Start-up India Action Plan by the govt. back in 2016. Any suggestions on how to celebrate? Comment below please!
Let’s dive into some D2C updates…
What’s in the news?
🥤Cling to desi zing
Punjab-based desi beverage brand Lahori received USD 15 mn investment from Belgium-based consumer-focused investor Verlinvest (Investor in brands like Sula, Veeba, Epigamia, Purplle & international beer brands), in exchange for a minority stake. While India is a huge market for cold beverages, brands haven’t yet had a breakthrough in the ethnic drinks category. Can Lahori be the one?
Market Size: USD 20.4 bn by 2030
Upcoming players: Jeeru, Shunya, Revive, Iqi, Storia
🍬Chew this chow
The last few years have inclined people towards investing in preventative healthcare. Nutraceuticals tablets gave way to powders, drinks & effervescent; they have now given way to chewable gummies and magic pops!
Pioneer brand Power Gummies raised USD 6 mn in funding led by 9Unicorns. It plans to launch 45+ variants adding to its existing range of 4 products (nutrient gummies for weight loss, beautiful hair, and skin etc.)
Market Size: USD 417.66 bn in 2020, globally
Competitors: Kapiva, Dr. Vaidya’s, Be Bodywise, andMe, Nyumi, Goli, Man Matters
👩👩👦👦D2C brands expanding their clans
Brands are investing hard to expand and solidify their clan: Sugar Cosmetics has acquired a majority stake in ENN Beauty, skin and hair care brand. Why, you ask? The cosmetics heavy brand Sugar needed skincare products as part of its offering that were vegan, cruelty-free, and all-natural (buzz words for the coming years).
Next on we have lifestyle electronics brands Boat, which acquired Singapore Based Cove that sells IoT products including smartwatches, smart shirts, smart belt buckle and Bluetooth wallets to expand its wearables category.
🍿Tech Bites
Social media start-up Pepul raised INR 10 cr. from investors, including PayTm and Freshworks. It aims to break the existing social media clutter with a community-focused platform.
Flipkart acquires refurbish platform for smartphones and laptops called Yaantra to enhance its sale offerings.
IPO bound Snapdeal partnered with Bank of Baroda to launch a co-branded contactless RuPay credit card with a range of reward points and other benefits to cardholders - to popularise the use of credit cards amongst users from smaller cities in India
Brands that caught our eye!
🐝Utopia with Eatopia
People these days prefer Stevia, honey, jaggery as natural sweeteners in their muesli bowl or smoothies. Eatopia is doing its best to provide consumers tasty choices while they pick healthier alternatives - Honey with Litchi and Tulsi infusions.
What’s more interesting about Eatopia’s honey is that it comes from beehives placed among tulsi/litchi flowers instead of infusing artificial flavors in the honey. They also do honey jams, nut pops, and healthy puffs. Whoever said eating healthy is boring, needs a reality check from Indian D2C Brands!
🍸Have a glass with some class
As we grow up, like it or not, house party hosts are expected to replace cheap and convenient paper cups and plates with pretentious glassware! Despite the resistance, we can’t deny the fact that a nice assortment of glassware accentuates the experience of drinks.
Smokey Cocktail is ticking all the boxes by offering designer glassware and barware that is practical, almost pocket friendly, and adds that little zing with its peculiar appearances. Smokey got teetotalers covered too, with their coffee cups and fancy mocktail glasses.
PS: We are totally enamoured with their collection!
Trend of the week: Luggage industry 🧳
Who doesn’t love escapades? Covid did halt the party, but not for long. People are back to #travelgram #Wanderlust #traveldiaries. As far as the luggage industry is concerned, big luggage companies have a substantial presence in the Indian market, but they lack the International styling that Gen Z desires. Indian luggage industry is. valued at approx INR 8000 cr. but dominated by big names who are not clued into the trends and styles youngsters prefer today.
Here’s a list of a few maverick D2C brands giving traditional luggage brands a run for their money!
Reads & Recommendations
New customer acquisition by Elevation Capital.
Buy yourself a copy of Atomic Habits by James Clear if you haven’t already and thank us later!
Thread on building communities:
🗞️ GlobalBees Beeline
D2C ecosystem is growing at lightning speed. GlobalBees house is power-packed with updates too and here’s a quick rundown of recent investments by GlobalBees:
Eat better butter with The Butternut Company’s no sugar spreads and healthy snacks. It has served over 1 mn customers to date.
You will want to run an extra mile for this textile. Mush is a premium brand offering a range of 50+ bamboo textile sets including bath towels and more.
Strauss is the boss of fitness offering a range of fitness equipments. 25+ of Strauss’ products are ranked #1 on Amazon.
That’s all for today!
Stay tuned for more insights about the D2C start-ups in India.
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