[Funding alert] IIT Delhi-backed personal care startup Clensta raises Rs 5Cr from N+1 Capital

Clensta, a startup in the personal care and homecare space backed by IIT Delhi, has raised Rs 5 crore from N+1 Capital.

The fund will be utilised for scaling up upcoming products for homecare category, Clensta said in a statement.

The personal care startup recently entered into a strategic tie-up with pharma firm Cipla for its first commercialised products "Waterless Bodybath and Waterless Shampoo'', it added.

Commenting on the fundraise, Clensta International CEO and Founder, Puneet Gupta, said, the company already has a presence in over 500 hospitals and more than 25,000 retail outlets, including pharmacies, and is now looking to penetrate through direct to consumer channels as well.

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"This debt fund helps us grow further and reach out to consumers at a faster pace. Also (it) provides us the opportunity to expand offline as well as online (and) cover all important aspects of sales channel," he added.

Revenue-based growth capital firm N+1 Capital has received approval from the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) for its first investment debt fund in order to deploy capital in India.

The vision behind these $100 million (₹730 crore) funds is to provide 100+ entrepreneurs to grow their businesses profitably and sustainably through their growth stage. 

The benefits for entrepreneurs include no personal guarantee at stake, tech-driven risk scoring model, have greater flexibility, and constant capital infusion. It also provides credibility, assurance, builds trust, and reduces the time load for due diligence for the upcoming investors.

"N+1 is sector agnostic, and the qualifying criteria are actually steady-state, as well as growing startups and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) with minimum monthly revenue of Rs 50 lakh, and at least 30 percent gross margin. Having said that, the fund is currently working with SaaS startups and some Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) startups,” added Rahul Chowdhury, Managing Partner, N+1 Capital.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)