The Ayurveda Co raises Rs100 crore in series A round

Beauty and wellness products company The Ayurveda Co., (T.A.C) has raised ₹100 crores in a series A funding round from Sixth Sense Ventures. 

The round also saw the participation of actress Kajal Agarwal, apart from a clutch of start-up founders and venture debt funds. T.A.C that started out as a direct-to-consumer brand is set to raise another Rs150-200 crore as part of the current Series A round over the next eight-to-ten months.

Param Bhargava, Founder, The Ayurveda Co., said, the company was formed after identifying gaps in the mass-to-premium Ayurveda products market in India. Companies such as Dabur and Patanjali participate in the market for herbal and Ayurvedic products apart from more premium brands such as Forest Essentials and Kama Ayurveda. 

Funds raised will be used to expand offline presence, improve product manufacturing, expand research and development, and accelerate digital awareness around Ayurveda and T.A.C in the ecosystem, the company said in a statement. “We will be strengthening our R&D and product quality segment. Part of the funding will go into strengthening our product development teams. Money will also go into opening more touch points which act as experience centres for the brand; third will go to working capital which is required for managing large inventories as we go deeper into retail apart from brand building and generating more awareness for the category,” Bhargava said.

The company is set to go live in general trade later this month—selling more of its hair care and skin care products in mom-and-pop stores. Currently, it already draws half its sales from offline channels. By fiscal 2025—the brand plans to increase its retail footprint from 3,000 to 20,000 stores apart from taking its network of exclusive branded stores to 100 from the current 20. The company draws 45% of its business from skin-care products such as face wash, creams, face oil, gels etc. 

T.A.C also has also made minority investments in two contract manufacturing units; the company works with other third-party manufacturers. 

The funding will help the company sell its products to a wider audience, especially millennials and GenZ to make Ayurveda mainstream, said Shreedha Singh, Co-founder and CEO.

T.A.C recently forayed into global markets—after it launched its range of products in Dubai.

Several homegrown brands have popularized Ayurveda products with their range of hair solutions and skin treatments. Meanwhile, several digital-first brands have also launched products based on Ayurvedic recipes.

“Though there is a huge clutter of digital-first beauty and personal care brands, only a handful have been able to get shelf space in the offline world, where 90% of the market still resides. General trade presence is critical to drive real scale for any consumer brand. Having moved offline early, establishing distribution across offline retail formats and geographies, T.A.C is garnering shelf space in areas dominated by incumbents to become an omnichannel BPC brand,” said Nikhil Vora, Founder & CEO Sixth Sense Ventures.