100X.VC-backed pet care brand Papa Pawsome has raised Rs 2 crore in its latest seed round which saw participation by DBR Ventures, ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, StrongHer Ventures (Global women entrepreneurship fund), 93 East Capital (New York Based fund), OpenbookVC, and other angel investors.
The company plans to utilise the fresh funds to establish a strong market presence across India and expand its innovative product line and invest in research and development.
Founded in 2019, by Nishita Agarwal and Nikita Agarwal, Papa Pawsome sells pet care products including shampoos, oils, creams, silicone-free serums and spa kits for dogs and cats. The company claims that its products are chemical-free, domestically produced and economically priced.
The company also offers breed-specific and concern-specific kits, available from their own website as well as e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart.
“We at Papa Pawsome believe that with pets becoming an important part of our lives, there has been a gap in the pet care industry. To address this gap and make the pet parents aware about what they put in and on their pets, we have introduced natural products after eight months of extensive research where we use plant derivatives to replace all the harmful chemicals,” said Nishita Agarwal, co-founder of Papa Pawsome.
Meanwhile, direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup Toffee Coffee Roasters has raised seed funding of Rs 1 crore from the Indian Angel Network (IAN). The funding round was led by IAN Lead Investors Hari Balasubramanian, Uday Chatterjee and Rajeev Sarda.
Bootstrapped until now, Toffee Coffee plans to use the fresh capital to strengthen its product portfolio and grow its topline 10 times in the coming months.
Founded in 2019 by Nandini Shrivastava and Rishabh Nigam, Toffee Coffee Roasters said that it sources coffee beans from some of the finest estates by closely partnering with the farmers, and follows a six-step of procurement and bean roasting before selling it to the customers.
“The coffee industry in India is growing, and we are witnessing the emergence of a new segment of consumers who extremely taste conscious and are looking for speciality coffee with innovative blends,” said IAN lead investor, Rajeev Sarda.
The startup sells more than 20 types of coffees in categories such as speciality coffee blends, single-origin coffee, fermented coffee, barrel-aged coffee, easy-to-brew pour-over coffee, cold brew coffee, and South Indian filter coffee.