[Funding alert] Skin and hair care brand mCaffeine raises $2M in Series A led by RP-SG Ventures

Skin and hair care brand mCaffeine on Tuesday said it had raised $2 million as a part of its Series A funding led by RP-SG Ventures. Other key investors who participated in this round include Apurva Salarpuria, LV Angel Fund, KRS Jamwal, and Telama Investments.

In March last year, mCaffeine had raised $500,000 from a clutch of high-profile investors, including Harminder Sahni, Kaushal Aggarwal and others who also participated in this round.

The personal care brand will use the fresh round of funding to increase its online and offline presence, and for research and product development to expand its product portfolio to include 30 more products in the next 12 months.

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Started in October 2016, mCaffeine was started by Vikas Lachhwani and Tarun Sharma. The brand has close to 10 products in its portfolio, and claims to have served more than half a million customers.

Commenting on the investment, Vikas Lachhwani, Co-founder of mCaffeine, said,  

“All mCaffeine products are envisioned, engineered, designed, and manufactured in India. The recently acquired funds will be utilised to further invest in R&D, expand distribution across digital channels, and continue to grow our operations. Along with this, mCaffeine plans to expand its product portfolio to include 30 more products in the next 12 months.”

The company is now targeting to reach a million customers and Rs 100 crore in annual revenue run rate in the next 12 months.

Commenting on the investment, Abhishek Goenka, Head of RPSG Ventures, said, “Natural and organic personal care is among the faster growing category in personal care with a strong demand and large addressable market. However, it is increasingly getting cluttered with little or no real differentiation. We believe the caffeine-based sharp positioning of mCaffeine sets them apart, which is also reflected in their growth profile.”

As part of the investment, Goenka will also be joining the board of directors of mCaffeine.

The startup distributes its products through its own ecommerce portal as well as sells through all major shopping portals, including Amazon, Nykaa, and Flipkart.

Tarun Sharma, Co-founder and CEO, mCaffeine, added,

“With this funding, mCaffeine plans to penetrate the market aggressively by giving more emphasis to a customer-driven approach, especially for the young millennials of India, with mass premium offerings. Currently, our products are available at 18,000 pin codes across India. We will increase our online and offline presence substantially.”

The personal care market in India is set to touch $20 billion by 2025 from the current $6.5 billion on the back of rise in disposable income of the middle class and growing aspirations of people to live a good life and look good, according to Assocham.

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