D2C Brand Bare Anatomy’s Parent Innovist Secures Funding To Strengthen Distribution

Innovist, the parent of personal care brands Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play, has raised $3.5 Mn in its pre-series A funding round led by Accel Partners and 72 Ventures.

The round also saw participation from existing investors Manu Chandra from Sauce and Arihant Patni from Patni Family Office, and new investors including Jani Ventures Inc, Nihir Parikh, Rashmi Kwatra from Sixteen Street Capital, Kunal Shah from Cred, Alok Mittal from Indifi Technologies and Shripad Nadkarni from Maverix Platforms. 

Innovist will deploy the funds to fortify research and development activities, hire talent across verticals, and strengthen marketing as well as its distribution channels.

Founded in 2018 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana, and Vimal Bhola, Innovist, earlier known as Onesto Labs, offers personal care products. It currently has three brands – Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, and SunScoop.

Innovist sells its products via its website and online ecommerce marketplaces. It has also partnered with various retail stores to sell its products offline.

Last year, Innovist had secured $2.5 Mn from 72 Ventures, Ramakant Sharma of Livspace, Suhail Sameer of BharatPe and Sauce Venture Capital. Before that, the startup had raised $500K in its seed funding round from Sauce Venture Capital in 2019.

Innovist competes with the likes of SUGAR Cosmetics, WOW Skin Science, and mCaffeine in the personal care and beauty segment.

India’s beauty and personal care products segment is currently estimated at $26.8 Bn and will expand to $37.2 Bn by 2025, according to a report.

The startups in the sector have been attracting a lot of funding. In May, D2C beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics sealed its $50 Mn Series D funding round. 

In the same month, D2C brand WOW Skin Science bagged investment from sovereign wealth fund GIC to launch new products, hire talent and invest in brand building.

In March, D2C brand mCaffeine secured over $31 Mn (INR 240 Cr) in its Series C funding round from Paragon Partners, Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund, Sharrp Ventures, Amicus Capital Partners and RPSG Capital Ventures.