Page 10 - HPIC E-Magazine (January-2021)

Indian News

DIVERSIFICATION
Personal care brand, mCaffeine, enters the beauty

soap market

Digital-first skin and ried about chemicals,” of rise in disposable income of the
hair care brand, mCaf- said Mr. Tarun Sharma, middle class and growing aspirations
feine, has diversified cofounder of mCaffeine. of people, according to industry lobby,
into the bathing soap “Over 12 months of re- Assocham. Natural and organic
segment to woo mil- search and an invest- personal care is amongst the faster
lennials as the trend ment of around half a growing category within the seg-
towards natural groom- million dollars have ment.
ing essentials increased gone into the curation,
amid the pandemic. design and production In September, a consortium of in-
of the coffee bathing bars,” he added. vestors led by Amicus Capital, RPSG
Founded in 2016, the brand has Ventures, a fund backed by RP-Sanjiv
nearly 20 products with raw coffee as mCaffeine plans to sell about two Goenka Group, and Telama Invest-
the key ingredient and has clocked million units of the bathing bars in ments had invested Rs. 42-crore into
Rs. 100-crore in sales so far. The new three years with half a million sales mCaffeine. This was the third round
bathing bar by the brand is made expected in the first year. of funding for Pep Technologies,
with pure arabica coffee as well. which owns mCaffeine. In June 2019,
The domestic personal care mar- the brand had received $2-mn in a
“There is a shift towards the natu- ket is set to touch $20-bn by 2025 Series A round of funding from a group
rals segment as consumers are wor- from the current $6.5-bn on the back of investors led by RPSG Ventures.

PORTFOLIO EXPANSION
Bombay Shaving Company eyes bigger presence

in personal care space

Homegrown grooming brand, into a completely new category with
Bombay Shaving Company, is in the launch of grooming products for
advanced talks with an international women earlier this year. These have
group of investors to raise a fresh already emerged as among our top
round of funding. It is also gearing selling products,” he added.
up to launch new brands to expand
its presence in the personal care Branching out
space, in line with evolving consumer The personal care firm is also
trends. looking to launch new brands to
strengthen its presence in both male
The grooming brand, which was and female grooming segments while
founded in October 2015, has so far also venturing into hygiene products.
raised about Rs. 80-crore from Col-
gate Palmolive, Sixth Sense Venture “We are looking to launch a new
Partners, Fireside Ventures and other and founder, Bombay Shaving Com- brand in the sanitisation products
prominent angel investors. This will pany, said that the rapid accelera- space. The sanitisers segment is fast-
be the brand’s fifth round of funding, tion in adoption of digital platforms evolving in the country. We feel there
including the initial angel funding by consumers during the pandemic is huge opportunity for growth for a
round. for personal care product purchases “softer” or “less chemical-heavy”
helped the company witness strong yet effective range of sanitiser pro-
Mr. Shantanu Deshpande, CEO growth trends. “We also ventured ducts,” Mr. Deshpande added.
10 Home, Personal & Institutional Care India January 2021