Mumbai-based eco-friendly home and personal care D2C brand, Beco has raised INR 4 Cr seed funding led by Climate Angels Fund and other investors including Titan Capital, Better Capital, Rukam Capital, Sequoia Sprout, and Zivame founder Richa Kar.
Beco aims to quadruple its sales and encourage consumers to switch to sustainable living through their eco-friendly product range with the funding. Founded in 2019 by Aditya Ruia, Akshay Varma and Anuj Ruia, Beco claims to be a 100% eco-friendly and zero plastic company. In the last four years, Beco has grown into a community of over 1 lakh members helping reduce 25% of plastic from their daily routine.
“Our ultimate aim is to help every individual contribute towards saving the environment, and to do so, we need to expand our distribution and customer touchpoints across cities. We are thankful to our investors, who are helping us to strengthen Beco’s positioning by encouraging us to continue to create eco-friendly alternatives to reduce the impact on our environment,” said Aditya Ruia, cofounder, Beco said,
Beco’s product portfolio comprises 20 SKUs across household items made of bamboo and cornstarch with no plastic components. From reusable kitchen towels, compostable garbage bags, to bamboo toothbrushes and travel kits, all of Beco’s products are chemical-free and non-GMO verified. By adopting a sustainable production and packaging model, Beco claims it has saved over 500 tonnes of plastic waste that could have been generated through the production and sales of the products. Its sales are currently equally distributed across its own channel and third party retailers and marketplaces.
Akshay Varma, cofounder, Beco also spoke about why this funding matters to them. “Our goal is to provide affordable sustainable products for daily use and break the notion that eco-friendly products are expensive. Through this funding, we would be able to optimally invest in product development, distribution, and operations and take Beco to every household.”
The company aims to expand into Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Beco products are available on its website, ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, and Nykaa among others. Their offline presence spans across 1500+ stores in India. The company works with contract manufacturers to develop its products using proprietary technology. It plans to introduce 6 new SKUs over the next few months.
Sumeet Singh, managing partner, Climate Angels Fund added, “Pollution and climate change is a trillion-dollar opportunity, not because of righteousness, but because of cheaper, effective and sustainable solutions that will replace existing solutions. The founders at Beco are disrupting a $12 Bn Indian market of home and kitchen consumable products. And they have exhibited offshoots and growth metrics of a strong D2C brand. Beco is the first D2C deal closure of our INR 1 Bn Climate Angels Fund.”
D2C Opportunity In India
The D2C revolution in India has been spearheaded by the country’s startup ecosystem. In the past few years, more than 800 new-age brands bade farewell to middlemen of all sorts and took the D2C route to ensure business growth in a cost-effective way. In brief, the D2C model has witnessed a massive uptick as it enables brands to bypass intermediaries, reach consumers faster and cater to them more efficiently.
D2C startups have lately received larger investor attention in the past few quarters. According to Inc42 Plus’ latest funding data, in the quarter of the year ended March 2021 (Q1 2021), D2C startups raised $142 Mn, which was 27% of the total funding for ecommerce startups. More importantly, between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, the funding amount for D2C startups has registered a 93% average quarterly growth.
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