India-based youth-centric footwear startup Solethreads has announced the completion of its Rs 13 crore series A round of funding led by DSG Consumer Partners with participation from Saama Capital.
“The startup will use the funds raised to invest in brand-building and expanding reach for its innovative product portfolio,” Solethreads said.
Speaking on the fundraise, Sumant Kakaria, Founder of Solethreads said, “While there are multiple footwear brands that are driving this change in lifestyle on the global stage, the need was largely unrecognized in India. The brand landscape in open footwear had been quite dull.”
“Existing players are by and large, not willing to invest the necessary time and resources to understand consumer motivations and therefore unable to innovate according to market needs. It is a very clear opportunity for new-age brands like us to occupy a large share in the open footwear category,” he said.
Adding to it, Gaurav Chopra, Co-founder of Solethreads said, “Solethreads has invested in cutting-edge technology to develop a superior, more comfortable product that is uniquely positioned to cater to the highly evolved Millennial and Gen Z consumers of today. Though we are a young brand, we already enjoy strong street cred. Our mission is to deliver highly innovative & superior products of global standards to the Indian youth and we firmly believe that we can build an exciting brand with a strong consumer connect.”
Commenting on the funding in Solethreads, Ash Lilani, Managing Partner of Saama Capital, said, “The team has a very strong understanding of the product category as well as the digital landscape, which makes them the best guys to drive this segment. Their biggest advantage is their passion for the product and a huge innovation pipeline which should keep them ahead of the curve. The open footwear category in India is over 1.5bn dollars growing at a CAGR of 15% and it is ripe for disruption.”
“We were impressed with how they managed to achieve significant early traction sustainably within a year of launch. With the perfect product and positioning, the brand is well-positioned to be the insurgent brand within the category that has the potential of changing the footwear landscape in India, “Hariharan Premkumar, Executive Director at DSG Consumer Partners.”