RP-SG Ventures leads investment in personal care startup mCaffeine

Online-first personal care brand mCaffeine said on Tuesday that it has raised $2 million (Rs 13.8 crore at the current exchange rate) in a Series A round of funding from a clutch of investors led by RP-SG Ventures.

RP-SG Ventures is a venture capital fund backed by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group as its sponsor investor. 

mCaffeine, which manufactures caffeine-infused personal care products, said in a statement that other investors who participated in the round included LV Angel Fund, Telama Investments and individual investors Apurva Salarpuria and KRS Jamwal. Wazir Advisors founder Harminder Sahni and Kaushal Aggarwal, both existing investors, pitched in as well.

“For us, research is paramount. The recently acquired funds will be utilised to further invest in research and development, expand distribution across digital channels and to continue to grow our operations,” said mCaffeine co-founder Vikas Lachhwani. “Along with this, mCaffeine plans to expand its product portfolio to include 30 more products in the next 12 months.”

Operated by PEP Technologies Pvt. Ltd, mCaffeine was founded by Lachhwani and Sharma in October 2016. Lachhwani was earlier part of the operations team at self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar while Sharma used to head operations at cloud kitchen startup Box8.

mCaffeine's products are currently housed under three major categories -- face care, hair care and body care -- and the brand currently has 10 products in its portfolio. 

mCaffeine claims to have served more than half-a-million customers since its inception.

“Currently, our products are available at 18,000 pin codes across India. We will increase our online and offline presence substantially,” said Sharma, who is also the chief executive officer of mCaffeine. “mCaffeine focuses on India for now with global potential for the future.”

The startup had previously raised $500,000 from Harminder Sahni and Kaushal Aggarwal.

mCaffeine's products are available on its portal and are also sold on other e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Nykaa, Flipkart.

According to a report by industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), the personal care market in India is set to touch $20 billion by 2025 from the current $6.5 billion on the back of rise in disposable income of middle class and growing aspirations of people.