EM & EM Personal Care Pvt. Ltd, which owns pet grooming brand Captain Zack and personal care brand Coccoon, has secured $1.5 million (Rs 11 crore at current exchange rates) in a pre-series A funding round led by Apar Industries’ promoters Kushal Desai and Chaitanya Desai through their family office, a company statement said.
The other investors participating in the round include Naval Bir Kumar, former head of consumer banking at IDFC Bank; Sunil Agarwal, promoter of Joy Cosmetics; and investment banker Ketan Shah, who manages Panini Advisors LLP.
The company will use the majority of the capital to market and brand Captain Zack and some towards Coccoon as well, Mohit Lalvani, managing director and founder of the venture said.
The funding round will allow the company to capture the personal care market of both humans and pets with its range of toxin-free products, the statement added.
Captain Zack offers pet grooming products like shampoos and conditioners and Coccoon provides personal care products such as non-invasive wrinkle fillers, night serum and others.
Incorporated in 2014, EM & EM Personal Care had raised Rs 1.5 crore in an angel round of funding in October 2017, Lalvani said.
Mumbai-based law firm RGM Legal served as the legal representative for Captain Zack for the transaction.
Deals in the pet care space
In February, PetBuddy Products Private Limited, which runs pet care startup PetSutra, has raised Rs 95 lakh ($148,434) in an angel round from a group of investors.
TailsLife, run by ShorTails Technology Pvt. Ltd, raised funding in a bridge round from existing investor Exfinity Ventures chairman V Balakrishnan in September last year.
In January 2017, Delhi-based luxury pet products portal Heads Up For Tails had raised $2 million from a group of high-net-worth individuals in a pre-Series A round. It had previously raised $1 million in seed funding from undisclosed investors in February 2016.
Another player, DogSpot.in, run by Gurugram-based Petsglam Services Pvt. Ltd, had also received an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, in January 2016.
