Men’s D2C Apparel Brand Almo Secures Investment To Offer Sustainable Clothing

Sustainable men’s apparel D2C startup Almo has raised $2 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round. Along with this funding round, the clothing startup has also announced the closure of its Pre-Series A round. 

Almo’s round was led by Inflection Point Ventures along with LetsVenture, AngelList India, and other angel investors. 

The funds will be used for research and development activities, and brand building as well as marketing activities.

The current fundraising comes after Almo reportedly closed its seed funding round in the previous year (2021). Its seed funding round was co-led by AngelList India and various angel investors including Arjun Vaidya from Dr. Vaidya’s, Piyush Shah from Inmobi Group, Muralikrishnan from Xiaomi India, Nitin Gupta from Uni Cards, Rohit Chanana from Hero Corporate Services, among others. 

Founded in June 2020 by Abhishek Shah, Muskaan Jain and Chhavi Bhardwaj, Almo makes and sells an array of sustainable men’s clothing including innerwear, winter wear and casual wear. It sells products via its website and online marketplaces. 

According to the startup, it aims to achieve over INR 100 Cr revenue by the end of this year (2022). It is also looking to expand the team. 

Almo faces competition from XYXX, The Quirk Box, Fighting Fame, and Fighting Fame in the men’s apparel market.

How D2C Is Playing In The Men’s Apparel Segment? 

According to an Inc42 report, the Indian D2C market is expected to reach $100 Bn by 2025. Out of all the sub-segments in the industry, apparel and footwear are estimated to account for nearly 77.6% of the online clothing market by 2025.

In the apparel sector, the men’s apparel sector is one of the burgeoning sub sectors. According to a Statista report, India’s men’s apparel, which was pegged at INR 1.6 Tn in 2018, is anticipated to reach over INR 3.3 Tn by 2028. 

The men’s apparel industry is rapidly transforming owing to the changing preferences of the young male demographic, who are below the age of 35 years. In recent times, India’s male demographic has started focusing on quality as well as style thereby, making a purchasing shift towards high-quality clothes. 

Online shopping is another factor that is bolstering the Indian men’s apparel market as a large chunk of people are opting for online shopping. The shift towards online shopping has consequently increased the count of online shoppers in the country. Seeing this trend, many apparel startups have ventured into this segment to grab a pie. 

Some of the new players include XYXX, which secured investment from Indian cricketer KL Rahul; DaMENSCH raised $16.4 Mn; Chromozome raised nearly INR 30 Cr;  another startup BlissClub, raised $15 Mn. Likewise, Freecultr raised $5 Mn in January this year. 

Besides, D2C brands Clovia and Abraham & Thakore have been recently acquired by Reliance Retail. An 89% stake was acquired in Clovia for INR 950 Cr and a majority stake was acquired in Abraham & Thakore.