[Funding alert] D2C startup WaterScience raises undisclosed sum from Velocity

Bengaluru-based direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup WaterScience has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Velocity.in, a revenue-based financier. 

This is the second round of funding the startup has raised via Velocity.in, having previously raised seed funding from veteran PE professional and angel investor Aditya Somani.

The bootstrapped venture is now gearing up for its next leg of growth with this financing. It will use these funds for new product development and to boost digital marketing spends.

“We plan to use the funds from Velocity.in to acquire customers and build inventory. The first funding round helped us increase our revenues significantly despite the pandemic. We hope to take this number even higher and are targeting 35 crores this year with this round of financing,” said Co-founder Sudeep.

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WaterScience manufactures filters that purify water for non-drinking use cases for the masses. As per a Niti Aayog study, India is placed at 120th amongst 122 countries in the Water Quality Index, with nearly 70 percent of water being contaminated. The poor water quality coupled with the unavailability of solutions for non-drinking water in India led Mohammed Iqbal, Sudeep Nadukkandy, and Pavithra Rao to start WaterScience in 2014. 

"Non-drinking water accounts for more than 95 percent of our daily water usage. I was surprised to find no solutions in the market to enhance its quality. At WaterScience, we are bridging this gap by building high-quality purification systems. Our products tackle hardwater and chlorine which is a big problem in cities. They also help improve the efficiency of drinking water filters,” Sudeep added. 

As per Avendus Capital, the D2C segment in India is expected to register a growth of 35 percent year-on-year to reach $100 billion in size by 2025. WaterScience claims to have upended traditional sales channels by selling directly to customers. 

“Prior to the pandemic, we used to generate around 5 percent of revenue via our own website while the remaining was via marketplaces like Amazon. Our focus was always to increase the website’s share of revenues, with the right digital marketing spends we have now successfully increased our website sales to 30 percent of online revenues,” Sudeep said. 

According to Abhiroop Medhekar, Co-founder and CEO of Velocity.in, "WaterScience is an internet-first brand with impressive returns on digital marketing and strong unit economics. An online model coupled with a loyal customer base worked in their favor during the pandemic. Since we had a historical relationship with them, we were able to approve this round of financing within just three days. The startup has carved a niche and solves a problem that plagues our country. We are happy to fund their growth and build on our long-standing relationship with them."

Bengaluru-based Velocity.in commenced operations in early 2020 and has since worked with over 500 ecommerce businesses.