The rising internet adoption, especially after the onset of the pandemic, has been instrumental in changing the way people now shop in India. During the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, ecommerce occupied a lion’s share of the retail sector, with D2C brands at the forefront of this shift.

However, amid supply chain disruptions, what started as a direct way to reach shoppers evolved beyond pure-play D2C. Today, brands are ramping up their presence across multiple consumer touchpoints – from their own websites and marketplaces to offline retail partners and exclusive stores. In simple words, they have now started to leverage omnichannel strategies to scale and gain customer trust.

Our quest for discovering India’s top D2C startups showed us just how important factors such as omnichannel retail, same or next-day deliveries, and expansion beyond metros have become for brands to survive in this age. 

FAST42, presented by Inc42 and Shiprocket, is an initiative to recognise India’s fastest-growing D2C brands. This year’s list aims to recognise D2C brands that moved beyond the traditional ways of selling and boosted their market share by exploring new opportunities to connect with their customers, in turn, changing India’s D2C paradigm. 

We’re glad to inform our readers that after three months of extensive groundwork, we are set to announce the 42 companies that made their way to the coveted list of India’s Fastest-Growing D2C Brands. 

In the past three months, we have reviewed more than 1,000 applications, held 500+ verification calls and conducted 140+ pitches and interviews. To celebrate the growth and success of the winners of FAST42, Inc42 will be launching a coffee table book on February 2, 2023, at an invite-only event in Delhi. The winning brands will also be featured on an interactive webpage of our website. 

The Journey To Recognise The Hottest D2C Brands 

The FAST42 list features brands in two categories — growth and emerging. The brands in the growth category have been selected on the basis of their revenue growth, along with other parameters listed here.

To shortlist emerging brands, we were joined by some of the biggest names in the startup ecosystem, who judged the brands based on their business pitch, their product-market fit and their potential to disrupt a category. 

FAST42’s esteemed jury included names such as Vishesh Khurana, cofounder of Shiprocket; Arjun Vaidya, ventures lead for India at Verlinvest; Chinmaya Saxena, partner, community strategy, at BEENEXT; Sanil Sachar,  founding partner of Huddle; Sreekanth Perepu,  head of venture capital at Jubilant Bhartia Group, and Prasun Agarwal, partner at A91 Partners.

Just like last year, the list will feature the journey of these startups, right from their inception, growth and achievements to their plans for 2023 and beyond. 

According to Inc42’s data, the brands featured in the last edition have raised nearly $80 Mn in combined venture capital since their listing. Almost one in every four D2C brands from FAST42 raised funding post the unveiling of the list.

Apart from announcing the ecosystem’s most coveted list and launching an exclusive coffee table book, the FAST42 event will also host sessions by industry leaders and stakeholders, who will deep dive into the current trends shaping the D2C ecosystem. They will also be decoding the business strategies and approaches that can help new-age brands stand out from the crowd.

Watch out for this space as we bring you the list of the most innovative D2C brands and narrate the tales of their challenges and success!