Chips and Dips 🍿

Dabur catching up, pepper spray, temporary hair colour & haircare industry!

Feb 28

👋 Hey Goodmorning!

GlobalBees D2C Pulse is back with exciting new content on the direct-to-consumer ecosystem in India.

"The battle between every startup and incumbent comes down to whether the startup gets distribution before the incumbent gets innovation." Alex Rampell (a16z)

What’s in the news? 🗞️

Empower the glamour 💪

Good Glamm Group owned feminine hygiene products company, Sirona forayed into the female safety segment with the acquisition of Impower-maker of pepper spray for women’s safety. Sirona has plans to invest roughly INR 30 cr. in Impower over the next 2 years.

Sirona has introduced many unfamiliar products in the femine hygiene category and more so, normalised their use, e.g. degradable sanitary pads, menstrual cups, a stand-and-pee device, period stain remover etc. We can expect this getting replicated in the safety segment with products like stun guns, personal alarms, women’s safety app may be?

Zero-junk gets the buck 💰

Slurrp Farm, aiming to bring millets to our meals, through its ready-to-make batters, cereals, vermicelli, etc., has raised INR 50 cr. from a clutch of investors, including Fireside Ventures. The start-up is already on a scaling spree having launched 20+ SKUs just last year and expanding to newer territories. Another health snacking brand, Happilo also raised funds to the tune of INR 175 cr. from Motilal Oswal to expand its product and distribution lines. Happilo offers a slew of health products including dry fruits and trail mixes.

While placing grocery order through Dunzo, we are pretty used to getting free goodies with our order (sometime higher in volume than the actual purchase order!) like Soulful Ragi Bites & Budweiser Energy Drinks. Such has been the craze and competition in the packaged food industry (valued at INR 45000 cr.) that players are willing to undertake a hefty free sampling exercise just to acquire customers.
Traditional player Dabur is bringing its heath snacks to the party too with new age brands like Whole Truth Foods, Butternut Company, True Elements, Yoga Bar!

Quickies from D2C enablers ⏰

Smart warehousing solution start-up Increff raised USD 12 mn and SaaS based logistics solutions provider Shipsy raised USD 25 mn.
A headless commerce platform as a service provider Fabric hits USD 1.5 bn valuation after a Softbank-led funding round. The so-called "headless" commerce separates the front and back ends of websites and apps allowing brands greater flexibility and faster page-loads
House of Brands Join Ventures that rolls up gifting start-ups raised USD 10 mn from investors including DSG partners to expand its dark store network.
Good Glamm Group is in plans to acquire social commerce platform BulBul. Where is this Content-Commerce strategy going? Listen to the Economist Podcast here.

Trivia Time 👩‍🏫

_____ is an Indian brand, started in the late 1960s, and was named after a schoolgirl from the town of Ruppur in Gujarat.
Former IOCL engineer Mahesh Gupta started his own business in 1988, mainly designing instruments to be used in the petroleum industry. However, when his son went down with jaundice in 1998, he decided to work on another product which is today known as _______, and currently has a huge market share in its category. Name the company.

Brands that caught our eye! 🧿

Dye by the fly 🕊️

We have to agree, our hair has a personality of its own, and one way to bring that out is by using hair color. But what if one is not in for a long-term commitment?

Look no further than Paradyes - India’s first semi-permanent hair color brand that offers funky hair colors like Saphire Navy, Ruby Wine, Moonstone Grey, Rose Gold that don’t last beyond 8 washes! As for hair care, these don’t turn your strands into lifeless weeds owing to their herbal extracts (amla, bhringraj, brahmi, almond oil, etc). Want to dig deeper into the ingredients? sure can do! Paradyes is completely transparent about its ingredients. Know more here.

Chips & Dips solving the snack crises 🐿️

Dipster by Snackible satisfies your untimely mid-meal hunger pangs, whether in between meetings, travelling, or while working, with convenient to carry and eat biscuit sticks/ragi biscuits with chocolate, butterscotch dip, spicy mayo dip, or makhani dip. Dipster provides snack options that are unique, tasty, and healthy, without any chemicals and preservatives in them.

Trend of the week: Haircare & Styling 💇

The haircare market in India covers products such as hair oil, shampoo, hair spray, conditioner, styling gel, colorant, etc. While the market is poised to reach USD 4.89 bn by 2025, we noticed that there aren’t a lot many D2C companies engaged in the niche haircare space i.e. either haircare is part of their broader product portfolio (e.g. Mamaearth, Mom’s Co.) or they started off with haircare and went go on to spread their portfolio (Wow Skinscience). Few brands prominent in the niche space: