Swag Fashions Hub Pvt. Ltd, a celebrity-led apparel and accessories company co-founded by tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi, has raised Rs 20 crore ($2.9 million) from high-net-worth individuals.
Swag was started by Bhupathi last year. It is a brand development and licensing company that creates, manages and builds celebrity-led consumer brands, according to a statement by Lastaki Advisors, which acted as the sole investment banker to Swag. It didn’t name the people who invested in the company.
The statement said that Swag and the celebrities co-own most of the brands that the company is launching. The company has signed up with celebrities like cricketer Virat Kohli, and actors Lara Dutta, Disha Patani, Malaika Arora and Allu Arjun.
This is the second startup founded by Bhupathi to get funding this week. Earlier this week, Scentials Beauty Care and Wellness Pvt. Ltd, which mainly offers beauty products endorsed by celebrities, raised Rs 25 crore ($3.6 million) in its Series A round of funding from Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of consumer goods giant Unilever Plc.
Scentials, which Bhupathi launched along with Jinesh Mehta in 2017, focuses on developing beauty brands across fragrances, skincare and colour cosmetics. The company launched Indian cricket captain Kohli’s One8 brand in the fragrance category in January and followed it up with skincare label Arias from Dutta, who is also Bhupathi’s wife.
*This article has been updated to clarify that Mahesh Bhupathi is the sole founder of Swag.
