Innovist Houses Three Personal Care Brands, Banks On Excellence To Disrupt The Industry

Its cutting-edge R&D and manufacturing unit, extensive clinical trials and adherence to EU safety norms spell the gold standard for quality

After monitoring consumer behaviour meticulously for a long time, Rohit Chawla, founder and former CEO of the premium grooming brand The Man Company, realised that Indians perceived European and U.S. beauty brands as superior to homegrown products. In brief, they associate high quality with global brands but lack trust in their Indian counterparts. Determined to create a top-notch personal care brand based on trust and transparency, Chawla teamed up with Sifat Khurana, former graphic designer at Ogilvy, and R&D scientist Vimal Bhola to launch Innovist. For context, it is the parent company of the hair care brand Bare Anatomy, the skincare business Chemist at Play and the sun care range SunScoop.

The startup began its journey with the hair care brand Bare Anatomy in 2019 but ventured into skincare two years later and finally launched SunScoop in 2022, leading to 100+ SKUs. It also brought its three brands under the main website Innovist.com and claimed that its CX (customer experience) went up by 15%. It eyes close to 3.5x revenue growth YoY in FY23, from $1.6 Mn to $5.2 Mn. Overall, it has served more than 1 Mn users and sold 1.5 Mn products.

Innovist boasts a comprehensive R&D facility and manufacturing unit, giving it complete control over the entire production process. This helps it design formulations from scratch, track product efficacy and ensure quality control, similar to what leading global brands do. Every product under its banner undergoes extensive clinical testing before hitting the market, and user feedback during these trials is carefully considered before the final rollout. It also follows the EU safety standards for ingredients and chemical formulations.

Innovist will strengthen its presence on major marketplaces such as Flipkart and Purplle and expand its retail footprint across 1K+ stores by the end of 2023. In the long run, it aims to launch more personal care businesses and emerge as a house of brands.