by Suman Gupta
February 2022, Mumbai: Eské Paris, a Mumbai-based premium D2C lifestyle brand has raised a total of Rs 2.5 crores, in a seed funding round. The key Investors in the current round include Fluid Ventures (D2C focused fund), Divij Bajaj (Founder, Power Gummies), and Ankit Gera (CEO & Co-founder, Junio). The brand already saw participation from Varun Alagh (Founder, Mamaearth) and Arjun Vaidya (Founder, Dr. Vaidya) in a pre-seed round. The current fundraise will be utilized to expand the brand’s product range, and accelerate the international launch.
Shivam Khanna, Founder of Eské Paris, said, “The future belongs to brands that have complete control over their supply chain, and we are here to spearhead this revolution in our category. Our C2M model will be the world’s leanest and most efficient distribution model, and we plan to be the first in our category to achieve this. Our vision for Eské is extremely ambitious. Digital-first brands in our space have been able to scale to over $150million in revenue within 5 years. I believe we have the depth, hunger, and commitment to improve this and build one of the largest global D2C brands of the decade.
“Furthermore, the pandemic has brought about some structural shifts in consumer choices and shopping behavior in India. With rising disposable incomes, the modern millennials are making a clear shift towards premium products, a trend that is set to accelerate in the coming decade” added Khanna.
With the majority of sales coming from their website (http://www.eske.in) and a significant online presence across marketplaces, the brand has been able to successfully build a loyal community of customers. Gaining real-time insights, the brand has seen customer retention of over 30% in a span of just 9 months.
Talking about the association with Eské Paris, Amit Singal, General Partner, Fluid Ventures, said, “The Asia Pacific region is currently the world’s largest market for leather and lifestyle products, with the highest revenue in this category. Eské stands out as an emerging premium lifestyle Indian brand known for its innovative designs, sustainable and environment-friendly leather & vegan products, and is on its way to becoming a category leader.”
The majority of the capital from the current fundraised will be utilized to build a global lifestyle brand with a community and content-centric approach. The brand has already been consistently profitable this year, with EBITA margins over 15%, and is looking to double its scale in the next couple of months.
