MUMBAI: India’s consumer startup boom is producing brands at record speed, but many are stalling just as quickly when it comes to scaling.
“It’s never been easier to start a business, but never been harder to sustain one,” said Nikunj Biyani, co-founder of SuperYou, during a panel discussion at the Mint India Investment Summit held in Mumbai last week.
Backed by Zerodha founders' investment vehicles Rainmatter and Gruhas, SuperYou is a modern Indian health and nutrition brand. Co-founded by actor Ranveer Singh and entrepreneur Biyani in late 2024, the brand is focused on fermented yeast-based, high-protein snacks and supplements.
“The opportunity to start and find PMF (product-market-fit) with consumers is better than ever before. You could have never done it like this 10 years ago, now you can test in a small community, without spending big dollars on marketing,” said Biyani.
The surge in new brands comes alongside rising investor interest across early-stage startups and legacy consumer businesses, with deal activity and listings picking up in recent years. But founders say early success is no longer the hard part.
Case in point: both SuperYou and Underneat, the startups on the panel, hit annual recurring revenue of ₹100–150 crore within six months of launch. Underneat, founded by entrepreneur Vimarsh Razdan and actor-influencer Kusha Kapila in 2025 and backed by Fireside Ventures, sells shapewear positioned as comfortable, everyday intimate wear.
That early momentum, however, is forcing a rethink on scaling, particularly around distribution, capital discipline and understanding shifting consumer behaviour.
“Today, an Indian customer is very spoiled. If they don't find you on quick commerce, it’s a very faint chance that they will go to the D2C platform and then buy from there,” said Underneat co-founder Razdan.
The scaling challenge
As a result, brands are prioritizing omnichannel presence to capture demand across platforms. “We are actively tracking search traffic and making efforts to list on platforms where it is large enough,” said Razdan.
Distribution is now central to growth strategies, spanning quick commerce, marketplaces and offline retail. SuperYou is preparing to enter the biscuits category within the next six months, taking on legacy players such as Britannia, Mondelez and Parle, Biyani told Mint.
“One of the big categories that we’re going to get into in the next six months is biscuits,” Biyani said.
Underneat, meanwhile, is planning an offline push, with its first exclusive brand outlet (EBO) expected within six months.
“We will start with our own EBOs, which should happen in the next six months just to understand customer behaviour,” said Underneat’s Razdan, adding that expansion will be guided by insights from initial stores.
Creator push
At the same time, founders pointed to the growing role of creators in shaping both demand and product strategy, as marketing shifts toward social and influencer-led ecosystems.
“Creator commerce is at $250 billion and within one year, it will be $480 billion,” he said, adding that companies such as Unilever are significantly increasing their spending on social and creator-driven marketing.
Mint reported in January that social commerce is seeing a revival in India, with younger consumers increasingly shopping through creators, videos and feeds rather than search.
For newer brands, creators are not just marketing channels but embedded in decision-making. “I call Kusha the voice of the customer inside the brand, the role is actually reversed. She represents the customers more than the company,” said Razdan.
That approach is also shaping product strategy, with tighter selection of stock keeping units (SKUs). “Every product is not only approved by Ranveer, but also his family,” said Biyani.
SuperYou launched with three SKUs as part of a focused strategy, while Underneat has limited its shapewear line to 12 SKUs, based on customer demand, Razdan said.