Delhi or Mumbai? 🤼‍♂️

All things noteworthy in the D2C space

Hey👋

Welcome to this week’s edition of GlobalBees D2C Pulse! D2C Pulse is a weekly newsletter that provides curated news and content on the D2C ecosystem in India - be it funding, acquisitions, partnerships or new start-ups, we are creating a one-stop resource for all things noteworthy.

We all have been a part of many painful discussions on which city is better Delhi or Mumbai? For food, night life, people etc. etc… Mumbai wins obviously! But, did you know there is one new parameter now - Which city has more start-up funding? Well so far Dilli seems to be winning 🧐

Source

In today’s issue we see how Mumbai based start-ups are trying to catch-up, with interesting developments in HRX, Neeman’s, Sleepycat and Bewakoof!

Let’s get going…

What’s in the news?

🏃HRX’s treading towards sports equipments with Flipkart

Mumbai based fitness apparel brand HRX, is now foraying into sports & fitness equipment category, featuring dumbbells and skipping ropes on Flipkart. It also plans to launch larger items like tread-mill, bicycles and wearables, by end of this year. Given the surge in functional home-workouts (the year 2020 saw about 71,000 new fitness and health apps), HRX is gearing to become a one stop shop for all things related to fitness, a USD 2.6 bn market.

Launched in 2013 on Myntra, HRX is India’s first home grown fitness brand and has since then achieved many milestones such as majority acquisition by Myntra, partnership with gym chain Cure-Fit, launching accessories like earphones, building international presence and much more!

🥾Re-Cycle with Neeman’s shoes

Neeman’s, a Mumbai based eco-friendly footwear brand just secured USD 2.7 mn in Series A funding led by Sixth Sense Ventures. Neeman’s has carved a niche for itself by offering sustainable footwear, made out of Merino Wool (sustainably sourced from Merino sheep in Australia), discarded plastic bottles, bamboo and recycled rubber, instead of synthetic materials.

Neeman’s plans to utilise the funds towards product portfolio expansion, R&D into new eco-friendly technologies and building international presence. While a niche segment player, Neema has fair bit of competition in sustainable shoe segment from Paaduks, Nothing New, All Birds & PAIO. 

😼Sleepycat’s roar is heard by all

SleepyCat, a Mumbai based mattress brand, that began its journey in 2017 with a goal of providing optimum sleeping solutions, has recently raised USD 3.8 mn from Saama Capital. Competing with other D2C mattress brands like Wakefit and The Sleep Company, SleepyCat focuses on ‘factory to doorstep’ model to provide premium vacuum-pressed mattresses to customers, along with other comfort products for the bedroom, including huggable pillows, therapeutic weighted blankets and pet beds. This vacuum pressed factory to doorstep model has inspired another new age sleep solutions provider Duroflex to develop in-house capability on logistics and last-mile delivery to overcome the supply chain.

The proceeds will be used by SleepyCat for expanding its portfolio of mattresses, design innovation, developing sleep wellness accessories and improving its manufacturing and distribution capabilities. 

📈Bewakoof’s Dukaan is getting bigger and better

Dukaan, a platform that helps merchants create online storefronts and use WhatsApp to sell their products, is here with another great proposition - Dukaan Plus that will bring together manufacturers, vendors, D2C brands and the resellers, on a single platform with their customers, and provide them with a commission on every sale they make at Dukaan Plus’ regulated rates. Dukaan Plus is a great news for the social commerce industry that is set to be valued at USD 16-20 bn by 2025.

Social commerce enables tapping of tier 2 and 3 cities, that are going to drive the next growth of retail sector. One of the first few D2C brands to come on board is Mumbai based Bewakoof for its apparel as well as recently launched cosmetics brand Cosmos Beauty.

In an interview with Inc42, Dukaan’s co-founder Subhash Choudhary rightly said:

“Everyone is trying to become everything these days … Zomato is trying to become Swiggy, Swiggy wants to become Dunzo, Dunzo wants to become Udaan, Udaan wants to become Vyapaar, Vyapaar wants to become Dukaan and now Dukaan wants to become Meesho…phew!”

Brands that caught our eye! 

🍫Paul and Mike: The sweet you need

Named after two Latin American cocoa farmers, Paul And Mike, the Kochi based artisan chocolate brand uses progressive farming techniques, local ingredients, complex flavours and craft, to provide over 36 unconventional flavours of chocolate bars. Paul and Mike has also won for India its first silver at the 2020 International Chocolate Awards for its 64 % Dark Sichuan Pepper and Orange Peel Vegan Chocolate; other flavours include Jamaican Rum, Sitaphal and Jamun (yay or nay?). Overall a brand with unique personality that is increasingly gaining traction. Read here, The Hard Copy’s case study on Paul & Mike’s 3P Branding Framework.

🐘Trunk full of tea tales

A number of gourmet and single estate tea startups have been attempting to shake up the mass-produced, overly sweet, milky variety tea market. One such brand is Tea Trunk by Snigdha Manchanda, India's first certified tea sommelier. Tea Trunk evaluates the exquisite Indian tea leaves and balances them with all-natural additives to create unique artisanal blends like Saffron Kahwa, Mint Matcha, Lavender white tea etc. Tea Trunk also curates purpose based bundles such as for mommies, PCOS, PMS, weight loss and skincare.

Trend of the week:

👶Babycare market in India

The Indian baby care products market is expected to reach USD 26.35 bn by 2025 at a CAGR of 11%, as per the Research and Markets report. New age brands have been focusing on baby’s wellbeing and raising awareness about chemical free eco-friendly products for babies. Let’s take a look at challenger brands that are making an impact in the baby care product industry through their sustainable solutions:

Reads & Recommendations

In our last week’s newsletter, we mentioned social commerce in India, a USD 2 bn market today. Social commerce is simply facilitating product purchases through social media platforms such as Whatsapp.

D2C brands can use such platforms for increasing their audience reach - not just through Facebook, Instagram etc. that are primarily for english speaking audience (<15% of the Indian population) but through niche Indian social media platforms that target the Bharat.

Tune into ‘Backstage with Millionaires’ episode on Top 10 Indian Social Media Startups Building For Non-English Users to know about platforms like Lokal App, Kutumb, Vokal, Meesho, BulBul TV and lots more!

That’s all for this week!

Stay tuned for more insights about the D2C start-ups in India. We're still wet behind the ears doing this, so do share your feedback.

If this was fun, subscribe to our newsletter and share it with your friends!