[Funding alert] Personal hygiene brand Soothe Healthcare raises Rs 130 Cr from A91 Partners

Soothe Healthcare, a homegrown personal hygiene products startup, on Friday, said it raised Rs 130 crore in Series C round from A91 Partners. 

Commenting on the funding, Sahil Dharia, Founder and CEO, Soothe Healthcare, said, 

"Paree is among a select few offline brands to achieve a Rs 100 crore top line in 4 years since launch. We have stayed focused on offering a great product with a good value proposition to become a trusted personal hygiene brand across the country. With this investment from A91, we’re on a solid track to achieve our goal of a significant market share in the next few years.”

Soothe will use the capital for marketing activities and deepening distribution channels to achieve its goal of establishing Paree as a household feminine care brand in India.

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By leveraging on its core competence in feminine hygiene with Paree and its extensive distribution network, Soothe also launched its Baby Diaper brand Super Cute’s.  

According to Abhay Pandey, General Partner, A91 Partners,

"Sahil has built Paree on a solid foundation of product and distribution focus. We believe that Paree will be among a few significant Indian brands in this underpenetrated segment. With complimentary products like Diapers, we see Soothe becoming a major player in the personal hygiene business in the next five years.”

The investment by A91 Partners included a secondary transaction with Sixth Sense Ventures. The secondary sale allowed for a successful exit for Sixth Sense Ventures’ first fund that had invested in Soothe.  The VC fund continues to hold its investments from its second fund. 

Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO, Sixth Sense Ventures, said, “The journey of Soothe for Sixth Sense and me, personally, has been extremely gratifying. We were Soothe’s first investor, and our belief in backing Sahil, the feminine hygiene space, and the way the market has been addressed, has paid us rich dividends."

He added, "In a category, which is one of the most underpenetrated and yet, completely duopolised, Paree has created its strong salience and indeed distribution. It’s rare to get into a category, which has almost a 40-year lien on a consumer life cycle. We, at Sixth Sense, continue to remain bullish on the absorbency category in India, and Soothe in particular.”