Personal Care Startup mCaffeine Raises $2 Mn Led By RP-SG Ventures

Mumbai-based personal care startup mCaffeine has raised $2 Mn in a Series A funding round led by RP-SG Ventures. Other key investors include Apurva Salarpuria, LV Angel Fund; KRS Jamwal and Telama Investments.

The startup plans to use the funds to further invest in research and development, expand distribution across digital channels and continue to grow its operations. As part of the investment, Abhishek Goenka, head of RP-SG Ventures will also be joining the board of directors of mCaffeine.

Prior to this round, the company has raised $500K from investors such as Harminder Sahni and Kaushal Aggarwal.

mCaffeine: 500K Customers And More

Founded in 2016 by Vikas Lachhwani and Tarun Sharma, mCaffeine is a personal care startups which offers caffeine-infused skin and hair care products. At present, it offers 10 products across face, body and hair care range. It claims to have 500K customers.

Abhishek Goenka, head of RP-SG Ventures, said, “Natural and organic personal care is amongst the fastest growing category in personal care with a strong demand and large addressable market. However, it is increasingly getting cluttered with little or no real differentiation. We believe the “caffeine” based sharp positioning of mCaffeine sets them apart, which is also reflected in their growth profile.”

The company sells its products online through its own portal as well as brands such as Amazon and Nykaa. It also recently added green tea range of products and is now targeting 1 Mn customers to record INR 100 cr ARR in the next 12 months. Along with this, mCaffeine plans to expand its product portfolio to include 30 more products in the next twelve months.

Vikas Lachhwani, cofounder of mCaffeine said, “The products are manufactured after extensive research and development. We embody millennial philosophy of natural first in the form of clean label. We see product development as an exercise to address the needs of modern lifestyle. We believe in pure, natural, ingredients and pursue strict clinical and dermatological testing regime.”

Personal Care Market In India

The total natural care segment in India, which includes Ayurveda and herbal products, is estimated to be $5.6 Bn- $6.31 Bn (INR 40,000 Cr- INR 45,000 Cr) according to a Nielsen India report from 2016. Of this, medical or healthcare products account for nearly 25%.

The Nielsen report estimates that the natural segment in India’s personal care market, which includes products made of natural, herbal and Ayurvedic ingredients, is pegged at $2.59 Bn (INR 18,500 Cr). This is 41% of the total personal care market and has been growing nearly two times as fast as the overall market.

Personal care market in India is set to touch $20 Bn by 2035 on the back of rise in disposable income of middle class and growing aspirations of people to live a good life and look good, according to ASSOCHAM.

With stiff competition in the market, which is expected to cross $3.5 Bn (INR 25,110 Cr) by 2022, mCaffeine continues to challenge players such as Plum, Kapiva Ayurveda, and others