D2C Startup RapidBox Secures Funding From SIG Venture Capital, Others

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) clothing and footwear startup RapidBox has secured $4.5 M in Series A funding round led by SIG Venture Capital, which is a venture capital arm of Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG).

Tanglin Venture Partners, India Quotient, and Ananya Goenka have also participated in the funding round.

The development comes almost a year after RapidBox reportedly secured an undisclosed amount of funding from venture debt fund Black Soil Capital.

Founded in 2019 by Arun Paliwal and Manoj Baranwal, RapidBox sells across category products including footwear, sports and casual fashion on its mobile app. It also sells products via other ecommerce platforms such as Flipkart and Myntra.

RapidBox sells fashion products to young millennials. Besides, it claims to have more than 2Mn customer base.

“With the advent of social media, consumers of all segments are exposed to the latest footwear trends and have the same aspiration for these products. RapidBox fulfills these aspirations through rapid innovation to deliver beautiful shoes at price points that work for the economy segment,” said Bhavani Rana, investment adviser at SIG.

RapidBox said that it has an in-house manufacturing facility along with knitting machines and also uses vegan leather to make footwear.

The startup informed that its direct and online selling model through ecommerce marketplaces helps to trim down channel costs.

“The latest investment round reinforces investors’ faith in RapidBox’s growth story. As a young brand, we see a lot of room for growth as we cater to growing footwear and fashion needs of consumers who are aspirational and early achievers,” said Arun Paliwal, cofounder of RapidBox.

The startup plans to use the proceeds of the funds for brand-building activities, expanding product offerings and enhancing customer experience.

In the D2C segment, it faces competition from the likes of Bewakoof, StyleCracker, Chumbak, and FabAlley, Zivame, among others.

As per an Inc42 report, India’s D2C market is anticipated to grow to $100 Bn by 2025. Of all sub-segments of the D2C sector, apparel and footwear segments are expected to capture approximately 77.6% of the online D2C market by 2025.

In the D2C clothing segment, several startups have raised funding in the last few months.

Almo securing $2 Mn, Freecultr bagging $5 Mn, Greendigo receiving investment from Indian actress Dia Mirza and BlissClub securing $15 Mn are some of the fundraisings that have happened in the sector.

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