While the road for the Indian tech startup ecosystem has been long and tiring since the onset of the funding winter in 2022, ecommerce brands have made unmatched strides on the back of a significant rise in online shoppers in the country. 

However, the competition is fierce, and brands that will play a key role in writing India’s D2C story will be the ones with solid fundamentals and a clear roadmap.

Therefore, with FAST42, an Inc42 and Shiprocket initiative, we endeavour to recognise the startups which have cracked the D2C code to scale.

Since 2015, we have kept a watchful eye on India’s D2C industry and have seen it grow from a nascent sector to spearheading the ecommerce revolution. In 2021, we launched the maiden edition of FAST42, which attracted the attention of many D2C brands, VCs and other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem.

Just like last year, we have curated a list of India’s fastest-growing D2C brands. The 42 brands featured on FAST42 have been shortlisted after nearly three months of rigorous fact-checking and extensive vetting of D2C brands from all over India.

 We Are Glad To Announce This Year’s Most Coveted List Of D2C Brands! 

Who Are The Winners Of FAST42 2023?

The FAST42 list is our attempt to identify and share the growth story and achievements of India’s most innovative D2C brands. In our quest to find the brightest category disruptors, we received more than 1,000 applications and held 500+ verification calls. 

Every submission was individually evaluated by a team of Inc42 editors, reporters and analysts. Further, more than 140 interviews and pitches were conducted before finalising the 42 fastest-growing D2C brands in India.

The FAST42 brands are listed in two categories – Growth and Emerging. 

In the growth category, as many as 29 brands have been shortlisted. The list not only includes the names of bootstrapped startups such as Boldfit, Himalayan Organics and Bunaai, but also the startups that have the backing of marquee investors such as Wellbeing Nutrition, Farmers Fresh Zone, Rage Coffee and DrinkPrime. 

In the emerging category, we have selected 13 D2C brands, including Sauce.vc-backed Perfora, Anicut Capital-backed MasterChow and bootstrapped brands P-TAL and ShineXPro. 

Overall, the list features a vibrant mix of D2C brands across sectors such as beauty and personal care, fashion and food and beverages. The FAST42 list also reflects the growing gender diversity within the D2C ecosystem, as several featured brands are led by women entrepreneurs. 

Key Insights From FAST42

According to Inc42’s estimates, the shortlisted 42 brands posted a cumulative revenue of over $107 Mn in FY22 and raised a total of $50 Mn in funding. Startups in the growth category registered a median revenue growth of 91% between FY21 and FY22, while those in the emerging category clocked 152% median revenue growth during the same timeframe. 

A deeper analysis of the FAST42 applications received showed that a majority of the D2C brands fell under the beauty and personal care category. Interestingly, an Inc42 report shows that beauty and personal care will be the fastest-growing ecommerce segment between 2022 and 2030. 

However, while analysing the brands in the growth category, we found that food and beverages topped the charts when it came to revenue growth. Between FY21 and FY22, the brands in this sector clocked medium YoY revenue growth of 100%, followed by beauty and personal care at 97%. 

The Selection Process

In a bid to recognise the fastest-growing D2C brands in India, we laid down two separate selection criteria for both growth and emerging categories. The details of these categories can be found here. 

Growth Category

In this category, we looked into well-established D2C brands that showed significant traction and growth between 2020 and 2022.

Scoring Methodology:

• For the final ranking, brands were ranked on the basis of a growth score – consisting of the average three-year growth in revenue (FY20-FY22) and the number of operating years. 
• The weightage of the two parameters was 75% and 25%, respectively.

Emerging Category

In this category, we looked into D2C brands that put innovation first and are set to disrupt the market. We were also joined by an esteemed jury which heard their pitches.

The stalwarts who helped us shortlist the brands are Vishesh Khurana, cofounder of Shiprocket; Arjun Vaidya, ventures lead, India at Verlinvest; Chinmaya Saxena, partner community strategy, BEENEXT, Sanil Sachar, founding partner at Huddle; Sreekanth Perepu, head venture capital, Jubilant Bhartia Group, and Prasun Agarwal, partner, A91 Partners. 

Scoring Methodology:

• The shortlisted brands pitched their business models to a panel of industry leaders & Inc42’s editorial team.
• The average scoring from the jury was considered for formulating the final ranking of the D2C brands for the emerging category.  

Months of groundwork and screening of applications have finally paid off, and we present to you the hottest D2C brands that are shaping consumer behaviour, making way for outstanding innovation, and writing the next chapter of the country’s D2C growth story. 

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.