Bombay Shaving Company Raises INR 160 Cr In Series C Funding

Indian D2C grooming and personal care startup Bombay Shaving Company (BSC) has raised INR 160 Cr in a Series C funding round led by hedge fund Malabar Investments. Patni Advisors, Singularity AMC and other HNIs also participated in the round.

The round also saw an ESOP buyback and early investor exits worth INR 45 Cr. Close to a year back, it had raised $6.1 Mn (INR 45 Cr) in a funding round led by UK-based consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser. It also has Colgate Palmolive, another FMCG giant, on its cap table. 

Launched in 2016, BSC began its life as a D2C men’s shaving and grooming products startup that then expanded into diverse hair removal and hair care categories including a women’s hair removal range that the startup is betting on. 

“We believe hair removal is a large market and Bombay Shaving Company has emerged as a strong challenger across categories. We are thrilled to partner with them,” said Sumeet Nagar, managing director at Malabar Investments. BSC has a portfolio of over 100 SKUs comprising hair removal products and creams, women razors, wax strips and other products and accessories. 

BSC will invest the freshly infused funds towards its content offering and omnichannel distribution breadth. “We will be investing in content, production studios, and brand ambassadors. We also want our products to be available across more than 100 cities in India,” said Shantanu Deshpande, founder and CEO of Bombay Shaving Company to Inc42. 

“Content is a great way to create the top of the funnel. We are focusing on content platforms. When it comes to acquisitions, in terms of consumers, content-to-commerce, the relevance of our consumer compared to our target audience. We have a massive appetite for good companies with good founders,” said Deshpande when Inc42 inquired about plans to strengthen BSC’s content-to-commerce pipeline. 

According to Deshpande, the startup is planning for an initial public offering in the next 10-12 financial quarters. 

“We have announced an ESOP buyback program but less than half of our employees subscribed to it, confident in the value that the shares will hold in the future. I am very positive about our IPO story and the potential for BSC to create value for public investors,” said Deshpande to Inc42. 

According to Inc42 Plus, Bombay Shaving Company has the best perception among men’s grooming D2C brands in the country.