This boAt has sailed and how!

Five years since its launch, audio tech and wearables brand boAt Lifestyle is profitable. Launched in 2016 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, it also recently emerged as the 5th largest wearable brand globally.

The brand almost tripled its revenue to Rs 700.44 crore in FY20 from Rs 239.4 crore in the year-ago period. Its profits climbed to Rs 48.5 crore during the same period from Rs 9 crore in FY19.

At the launch event of YourStory’s Brands of India, Aman Gupta, Co-founder of boAt Lifestyle, talked to YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma about boAt’s playbook of becoming a globally iconic brand from India.

According to the Delhi-based startup, in 2019, it sold over 6,000 units per day with four units sold every minute. Recently, 10,000 pieces of its newly launched men’s trimmer range called ‘Misfit’ were sold within one minute of launch on ecommerce platform, Flipkart. That was when boAt shifted gears, and zoomed beyond audio.

In the past year, it also doubled its employee strength and established a local R&D centre in Bengaluru, expanded into newer categories like smartwatches, besides launching over 20 new products in the audio category in FY21.

Aman also said the D2C brand hopes to become India’s first digital-first consumer brand to go public.

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The Interview

Several people choosing careers of their interest rather than working in mainstream fields has led to the emergence of a crop of entrepreneurs who focus on their passion.

In a conversation with YourStory, Amway direct sellers and Laiqa's Monica Bindra talk about what it takes to become a ‘passionpreneur’.

Editor’s Pick: Weekly funding roundup

Venture funding into Indian startups continued to rise, with new unicorns emerging from the ecosystem as the total amount for the third week of September touched closer to $500 million.

The period reported a total venture funding of $434 million, a 37 percent rise compared to the previous week where the total amount stood at $317 million. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Accelerating growth for a digital-first economy

Digital-first businesses are currently experiencing a golden age, and hold the key to a $10 trillion market opportunity. This has led to a need for traditional financing platforms to adapt to newer business models to propel this growth.

Launched in 2020 by Ishita Verma and Anurakt Jain, Klub — a revenue-based financing player, is helping revolutionise financial innovation and building deep partnerships to drive growth. Read more.

News & Updates

• Nazara Technologies' Nodwin Gaming has bought media and entertainment company OML's gaming and adjacent intellectual property business for Rs 73 crore. The deal will provide partial liquidity to OML Entertainment's shareholders, including investment company CA Media.

• Spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Space to access ISRO's facilities and expertise, and undertake tests for its single-piece 3D-printed semi cryo engine and other systems.

• IppoPay has raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from investors including Better Capital, an early-stage investor, and Prabhu Rangarajan, who founded API platform for banking and payments M2P.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“Being an entrepreneur requires you to surf through different turfs in one go. This needs passion and love for what you are doing. Find what you like.”

— Aman Gupta, Co-founder and CMO, boAt

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