Exclusive: D2C Electronics Brand Nuuk Bags INR 40 Cr From Vertex Ventures

D2C home appliances brand Nuuk has raised INR 40 Cr ($4.6 Mn) in its Series A funding round led by Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures. 

The startup will use the fresh capital for product development, brand building, and scaling up local manufacturing, Nuuk cofounder Gazal Kalra told Inc42.

Kalra, who earlier cofounded logistics startup Rivigo, said, “With the help of this funding, we will be able to add newer products in the already existing categories that Nuuk caters to.”

Founded in 2023, Nuuk offers products across four categories – fan, vacuum cleaner, garment care, and juicer and blender. 

With the latest round, the startup has raised a total funding of INR 65 Cr (about $8 Mn) to date from Good Capital, Rohit Kapoor, Suhail Sameer, Deep Bajaj, Vivek Gambhir, among others. 

Talking about its cap table, Kalra said, “As a second time founder, I wanted to ensure that we have supportive investors on the cap table. Given the industry we are in, and how frugal we were with regards to our expenses, all the investors were happy to come on board.” 

Nuuk currently manufactures only 20% of its products in India, with the rest being imported from China. However, its cofounder Shalabh Gupta said the startup is on track to produce over 50% of its products in India by the end of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26).

However, Kalra highlighted that the designs of the startup’s appliances are made internally and then shared with third-party manufacturers.  

Besides its own website, Nuuk also sells its products via ecommerce marketplaces. 

Gupta said that Amazon is the biggest revenue generator for it currently. However, with the rising popularity of quick commerce, he expects Blinkit to start driving significant sales.

Nuuk, which also featured in Inc42’s flagship ‘30 Startups To Watch’ series last year, competes against the likes of Philips, Bajaj, Atomberg, LifeLong Group, among others. 

The funding comes at a time when a number of D2C brands have emerged in the country over the last few years and are seeing rapid growth. This has also attracted a lot of investor interest.

Earlier today, Inc42 reported that D2C menswear brand XYXX is looking to raise INR 29.8 Cr (about $3.4 Mn) in a round led by Niveshaay Sambhav Fund.

At the heart of this push is the growing Indian D2C market, which is projected to become a $300 Bn opportunity by 2030.