Fireside Ventures and Roots Ventures led a pre-Series B fundraising round for D2C sampling platform Smytten, which raised INR 100 crore. Sharrp Ventures, Waao Partners, Survam Partners, and Sattva Group Family Office also participated in the fundraising round.
Smytten plans to use the new funds to extend its brand, hire engineering expertise, improve IT infrastructure, and hire new employees across several verticals.
What is smytten?
Smytten is an online sample platform where various types of direct-to-consumers (D2C) firms may advertise themselves and sell their products to a wider audience. It was founded in early 2016 by former Unilever and Google executives Siddhartha Nangia and Swagat Sarangi. Consumers can acquire sample products at a low cost from an app-based marketplace to help them make smarter purchasing selections.
According to Sarangi, several of the early investors exited the firm with a nearly 15X return on investment after the latest funding round. He also said that Smytten’s valuation had doubled since its last investment round in August 2021, without specifying its current worth.
Smytten sells items in 12 different categories, including skincare, bath and body care, food and beverages, makeup, fragrances, health & wellbeing, stationery, and pet supplies.
The D2C sample platform aspires to be a one-stop-shop for all lifestyle goods. “There is a big scope to further deepen in the present categories that we have,” Sarangi said of the company’s future intentions. We also intend to invest in the audio and home automation industries.”
Smytten provides a variety of services to its D2C partners, including data and insights into product development and channel expansion.
To date, Smytten has raised $20 million in investment. Among its early investors are angel investor Rajan Anandan, the former MD of Google India and South East Asia, and many other industry experts.
Smytten fundraising
Smytten raised $6 million in a Series A fundraising round headed by FireSide Ventures in August of last year. Sharrp Ventures, Harsh Mariwala’s family office; Survam Partners, Suman Kant Munjal’s family office; and Waao Partners, the family office of serial entrepreneur Pratul Shroff and Roots Ventures, all participated in the round. Root Ventures provided $1.5 million in funding in 2019.
Smytten claims to have over 900 businesses across several lifestyle categories on its website. Some of the D2C brands on its platform include Mamaearth, Plum, mCaffeine, WOW Skin, Maybelline, Man Matters, Bodywise, and The Man Company.
India’s D2C sector will be worth $1,200 billion by 2021, with over 800 brands. By 2026, the industry is expected to be worth $1,760 billion.
Nykaa, Plum, MyGlamm, HealthKart, Sugar, and LensKart are just a few of the well-known names in the fiercely competitive D2C market.
In terms of the direct-to-consumer industry, Sarangi believes that consolidation of D2C brands will occur in the next years, as it will be difficult for all of them to survive in the same sector. Smytten claims to have ten million customers, 70% of them are female and 30% are male.