YourStory to unveil the first 100 D2C brands from its highly anticipated ‘500 Challenger Brands’ initiative

Launched with an aim to discover, showcase, and amplify high-potential emerging D2C brands, YourStory’s ‘500 Challenger Brands’ initiative is all set to release its first batch of 100 brands in a virtual launch event on December 21, 2021, 3:00pm onwards.

‘500 Challenger Brands’ is a part of YourStory’s ‘Brands of India’ property that was unveiled on September 17, 2021. Through various initiatives, the property aims to help India create a line-up of 500-strong D2C brands over the next three years, and also enable the existing D2C brands to grow their collective revenue base from the current $10 million to $100 million. ‘500 Challenger Brands’ is one of the property’s most important and anticipated initiatives.

The 500 brands have been selected via an extensive search across the top D2C brands in the country and after going through more than 1,000 applications that were received by the company when the initiative was launched earlier in September.

The first 100 brands will be unveiled through a report that will be launched by Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory along with the senior leaders of some of the leading D2C players in the country. The recognised brands under ‘500 Challenger Brands’ will get due amplification on various YourStory properties, in addition to the access to the company’s network of investors, enablers, mentors, and other key stakeholders.

The announcement of the remaining 400 brands will take place in batches of 100 over the course of next 10 months. Additionally, jury-selected challenger brands from among the ‘500 Challenger Brands’ will get nominated to 'The Brand Accelerator' -- another initiative under Brands of India -- to be supported by YourStory's stakeholders’ network for mentoring and hand-holding them to scale.

Why should you attend?

• To be a part of the grand unveiling of the first batch of the top emerging 500 D2C brands that have the potential to revolutionise India’s D2C space.
• Be a part of history by joining YourStory’s efforts to help India create a line-up of 500-strong D2C brands over the next three years.
• Hear one of the country’s most successful and leading influencers and entrepreneurs, Shradha Sharma, share her insights, and vision for India’s D2C space.
• Listen to Akshay Ghulati, Co-founder - Strategy and Global, Shiprocket, speak about the future trends that will shape up the D2C space in India.
• Attend a masterclass on ‘Working capital financing for D2C brands’ by Abhiroop Medhekar, Co-founder and CEO, Velocity.
• Join an insightful panel discussion titled ‘Where the Indian D2C ecosystem stands against its foreign counterparts?’ with Dipanjan Basu, Partner and CFO, Fireside Ventures; Nishant Verman, Co-founder and CEO, Bzaar; and Akshay Ghulati, Co-founder - Strategy and Global, Shiprocket.

To register for the event and to ensure that you get the report delivered directly to your mailbox, please fill in the form here https://yourstory1.typeform.com/to/Z4Gpjnwt