Damensch Apparel Pvt. Ltd, which owns premium innerwear brand for men DaMENSCH, said Thursday it has raised nearly Rs 50 crore ($6.7 million) from four investors.
The company secured the funding from venture capital firms Matrix Partners India, Saama Capital and Whiteboard Venture Partners as well as venture debt firm Alteria Capital, it said in a statement.
The announcement comes months after VCCircle first reported in March that DaMENSCH had raised Rs 12 crore from Matrix Partners and Saama Capital. Previously, it had secured funding from Whiteboard in late 2018 and early 2019, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital.
The company statement didn’t give a breakup of the amount each investor put in. However, a person familiar with the matter told VCCircle that the total amount includes the capital the company had raised in previous rounds.
The person, who declined to be named, said the company had mobilised Rs 20 crore previously and has now secured an additional Rs 30 crore, including Rs 6 crore in venture debt.
DaMENSCH didn’t immediately respond to VCCircle’s requests for comment.
Matrix Partners India founder Avnish Bajaj said in the statement the brand’s business has grown almost eight times in the last 18 months, prompting the VC firm to “double down” on its investment in the company.
The innerwear company was launched in 2018 by Anurag Saboo and Gaurav Pushkar. Both graduated from IIT-Delhi and have worked at beauty e-tailer Nykaa and homegrown e-commerce firm Snapdeal.
DaMENSCH sells its products through its own website along with other major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. It claims the brand has turned profitable.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its product offerings, co-founder Saboo said.
Innerwear companies
Page Industries Ltd, the licensee for the Jockey brand in India; and Rupa & Co, the owner of MacroMan, Frontline and Euro brands, are among the big companies that operate in the innerwear market. Others include Lux Industries Ltd, the owner of the Lux Cozi brand; JG Hosiery Pvt. Ltd, which owns the Amul brand of innerwear, and Neva Garments Ltd.
A few startup brands like XYXX Apparels, Tailor and Circus, and Dashing have entered men’s premium innerwear segment in recent years. XYXX is backed by early-stage consumer venture capital fund Sauce.vc.
In the women’s innerwear category, global private equity investor Advent International had last year acquired Enamor from its founders and two private equity firms for Rs 320 crore ($45 million then).
