Hotel-to-cigarette conglomerate ITC Ltd has agreed to invest Rs 13.50 crore in direct-to-consumer (D2C) ayurvedic and natural personal care startup Mother Sparsh, raising its stake to 22% from the existing 16% through this transaction, it said in a stock exchange filing.
The investment is a part of Mother Sparsh’s ongoing Series B funding round, where it targets to raise up to Rs 100 crore.
In November last, ITC had infused Rs 20 crore in Mother Sparsh, as part of its Series A round.
ITC said that the investment is in line with the company’s continued interest in the personal category across the D2C space.
Launched in 2016 by Dr Himanshu Gandhi and Rishu Gandhi, Mother Sparsh offers plant-based, natural and eco-friendly baby care products.
The platform does majority of its sales through online channels, including its own website, and offers a range of targeted personal care solutions for mothers, infants and kids, it said in a statement.
With the capital, the D2c brand looks to enhance its research and development and foster innovation in the critical baby and mom care segment, alongside sustained product portfolio diversification.
The company recently forayed into the diaper segment, launching plant-powered cloth diapers and also claims to have doubled its turnover in FY 2022 to Rs 33.53 crore.
“An intrinsic innovative streak as a brand and the ethos of crafting products on need-based proposition by the virtue of nature-oriented solutions is at the heart of Mother Sparsh. Our recurrent funding aims to strengthen this mission through R&D in the space and offering one-of-its-kind solutions for needs of mothers and their little ones,” said co-founder and CEO Himanshu Gandhi.