šInflation, Now Streamingšæ
Nykaa's B2B puzzle, Honasa's discipline, Pilgrim's nerve
The government just stopped counting your DVD player. Last week, MoSPI dropped Indiaās new Consumer Price Index (CPI) and this is the loudest signal yet: Indiaās wallet now lives on a phone, and the bureaucrats finally noticed.
VCRs, tape recorders, CDs and cassettes- gone. In their place? Online streaming services, pen drives, external hard disks, and inflation data pulled from 12 online marketplaces. This is admitting that digital consumption isnāt optional anymore- itās mainstream behaviour.
For D2C, this is the kind of boring policy move that quietly changes the weather. When inflation measurement captures streaming subscriptions, online pricing dynamics, and digital-first purchases, the ācost of livingā narrative shifts toward the same playing fields where brands fight for attention and checkout.
Now letās see what the ecosystem built this week while the statisticians were catching up.
šļøMarketplace Buzz
Shadowfax hit ā¹1,159 crore revenue with 65% growth in Q3 FY26, while profit jumped 5x to ā¹35 crore, proving logistics infrastructure captures quick commerce boom without owning inventory. The company raised ā¹1,907 crore via IPO in January after listing at a slight discount, showing public markets value last-mile execution over platform hype. Nine-month revenue reached ā¹2,965 crore as Delhivery, XpressBees compete for D2C and quick commerce delivery.
Nykaaās SuperStore hit ā¹950 Cr in GMV in FY25, serving 276,000 retailers across 1,100 cities, but those retailers place orders just 6.5 times per year, unchanged from FY24 despite adding 81,000 new accounts. The B2B2C-play weaponises brand relationships by selling ad inventory to CPG companies targeting mom-and-pop shops, turning offline retail into a captive audience. The genius is the flywheel, while the execution is retailers treating it like a backup supplier, not a primary one.
šInfographica
šD2C Snippets
USV acquired 79% of Wellbeing Nutrition at ā¹1,583 crore valuation with ā¹170 crore FY25 revenue, showing pharma giants value nutraceutical brands despite ā¹30 crore losses. HUL exited its 19.8% stake for ā¹307 crore after investing ā¹70 crore, earning 4x return in two years. The 2019-founded brand targets ā¹450 crore revenue by FY27, proving preventive wellness attracts premium multiples.
Noise's revenue fell 24% to ā¹1,048 crore in FY25 while flipping profitable, exposing the wearables trap: scale without margin discipline kills faster than controlled contraction. The Bose-backed brand slashed marketing 37% to ā¹180 crore and stayed EBITDA positive at ā¹18 crore, choosing survival over vanity growth. Competitor boAt hit ā¹3,073 crore revenue with ā¹60 crore profit, proving category winners need both.
Slurrp Farm raised ā¹30 crore at ā¹810 crore valuation after a two-year funding gap, exposing millet snackingās patient capital reality: 30% revenue growth to ā¹95.6 crore with ā¹32.7 crore losses signals steady traction without breakout velocity. The Anushka Sharma-backed brand grew valuation 59% while keeping fundraising modest, suggesting measured confidence over momentum theatre.
GIVA hit ā¹518 crore revenue with 89% growth while crossing 200 stores and achieving 50-50 online-offline split, exposing jewellery's omnichannel requirement: digital discovery needs physical conversion. Losses widened 22% to ā¹72 crore as marketing hit ā¹135 crore, showing scale demands sustained spend. The brand improved unit economics to ā¹1.15 per rupee earned while expanding into gold and lab-grown diamonds beyond silver.
Ethera raised ā¹25 crore from BlueStone after launching in 2024, exposing jewellery incumbentsā strategy to capture lab-grown diamonds through portfolio bets rather than brand pivots. The startup runs five stores across Bengaluru and Delhi while launching 200 designs monthly, targeting omnichannel expansion. BlueStone doubled its investment instead of building internally, signalling category credibility matters for new formats.
Honasa hit ā¹602 crore revenue in Q3 FY26 with 16% growth while profit doubled to ā¹50 crore, exposing the MamaEarth parentās shift from hypergrowth to margin discipline after public market pressure. The company acquired menās grooming brand Reginald for ā¹195 crore while founder Varun Alagh bought ā¹50 crore more equity, signalling confidence in operational momentum. Revenue grew slower than in the peak years, but profit acceleration shows portfolio consolidation is working.
Minimalist hit ā¹515 crore revenue with 48% growth in FY25 before HUL acquired 90.5% at ā¹2,955 crore valuation, proving science-backed skincare scales when distribution meets ingredient credibility. The brand stayed EBITDA positive at ā¹18 crore despite ā¹154 crore marketing spend, showing unit economics at ā¹0.98 per rupee earned.
The Man Company revenue fell 16% to ā¹154 crore with ā¹22 crore loss in FY25 after Emami's ā¹400 crore acquisition, exposing FMCG integration friction: tripling marketing to ā¹43 crore failed to prevent decline. Competitor Beardo grew to ā¹214 crore with ā¹13 crore profit while Ustraa declined 22% but narrowed losses, showing men's grooming category volatility. Cash dropped to ā¹0.3 crore as unit economics hit ā¹1.15 spent per rupee earned.
Wakefit hit ā¹421 crore revenue with ā¹32 crore profit in Q3 FY26 after listing loss last year, proving sleep and furniture D2C works when expenses stay disciplined at ā¹397 crore. Nine-month revenue reached ā¹1,145 crore with 18% growth as profit doubled sequentially from ā¹16 crore.
DUSQ raised ā¹24 crore for sleep regulation hardware, dismissing wearables that track sleep without fixing it as awareness theatre. The Fireside-backed startup built proprietary sleep labs testing autonomic recovery with 50 million data points, targeting biological regulation instead of score dashboards. Sleep tech stopped observing and started treating.
Renee Cosmetics raised $30 million at $200 million valuation with ā¹500 crore ARR after tripling revenue in 18 months, proving that colour cosmetics scales when distribution meets product velocity. The Playbook-led round funds offline expansion into tier 1 and 2 cities while targeting ā¹1,000 crore ARR in two years.
Pilgrim scaled ā¹17 Cr to ā¹400 Cr in three years while other beauty D2Cs bled out, and the gap isnāt formulations, itās nerve. The brand raised $54 Mn, pushed offline when everyone preached digital, and now pulls 20% revenue from stores that other brands fear. Pilgrimās 40% repeat rate and salon B2B prove retail discipline beats Instagram virality.
Supertails raised $30 million to perfect its Bengaluru petcare ecosystem before replicating elsewhere, stacking 30-minute delivery, 10 clinics, and at-home vet services into one full-stack model instead of chasing quick geography expansion. The former Licious executives are applying meat delivery logic to pets: own the infrastructure, then own the market.
Benny's Bowl raised $1.4 million to scale functional pet nutrition targeting allergies and weight management, exposing a repeat purchase model that looks like food but behaves like medicine. The brand doubled revenue in 12 months with 85% repeat customers, proving pet parents treat dietary fixes as recurring prescriptions without subscription friction.
Aramya raised ā¹80 crore at ā¹1,438 crore valuation after 13x revenue growth to ā¹41 crore in FY25, proving handcrafted ethnic wear can scale like tech when distribution meets demand density. The Z47 and Accel-backed brand jumped from ā¹3 crore to ā¹41 crore while keeping losses at ā¹10.7 crore.
š¢Power Talk
āWhat is most telling is that more than 50% of our CTV watch time in India is on content 21 minutes or longer. This signals that premium, long-form storytelling is thriving on the big screen, fuelled by a unique co-viewing phenomenon where multiple generations enjoy high-quality content together,ā Gunjan Soni, Country Managing Director, YouTube India
šReads and Recommendations
CollabX drove 320K direct orders for Dominoās India using micro-influencers, proving influencer marketing delivers $5.78 per dollar spent, far from the vanity play 79% of brands still canāt measure. Creators are now paid per conversion, not per post, and performance replaced popularity- influence became infrastructure.
Social commerce resurfacing in India looks like a comeback story, but the real shift is upstream. Discovery has moved from search bars to feeds, creators, and short video, while checkout quietly stays with marketplaces. Platforms like Wishlink win by riding creator distribution instead of rebuilding commerce stacks.
Of course, revenue demands proof, and in India, that means battling 60% fake followers. Growth at 25% annually isnāt creator hype; itās accountability infrastructure separating influence from theatre. Brands pay for conversions now while fake audiences starve.
DSG Consumer Partners and V3 Ventures circle ā¹20 Cr checks for fragrance startups doing ā¹2 Cr monthly revenue, chasing a ā¹1,500-4,000 price gap while KKR already bought Fogg for $625M in 2021 at ā¹1,200 Cr revenue. VCs call it premiumisation as Gen Z leaps from deodorants to EDPs, ignoring that the gap exists because mass buys ā¹100 Fogg and premium buys ā¹10,000 Chanel.
š„Thatās all for this week! As always, share this with your fellow D2C hustlers, and letās keep the community growing.
PS: Folks at some companies have told us this newsletter is almost mandatory weekly reading for their teams š„°. If your company is not in on it yet, get your teams on the latest in the e-commerce space every week.
