Direct-to-consumer (D2C) footwear startup Solethreads has raised $3.7 million in Series A funding led by Fireside Ventures. Along with the angel investors Nihir and Dhaval Nalin Parikh, the round had participation from new and existing investors, including DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital.
It is currently available in more than 600 MBOs through distributors in the top 30 cities in India, as well as large retail formats like Shoppers Stop, Reliance Retail, Metro Shoes, etc., as well as its website and on e-commerce platforms like Myntra, Ajio, Flipkart, and Amazon.
The funding will be used for category and geographical footprint expansion as it aims to be present in more than 1,000 multi-brand outlets by the end of the financial year and be among the top 3 casual footwear brands in the semi-premium category on e-commerce marketplaces, the company said in a release.
“The footwear industry has been dominated by global brands, and we aim to be the brand built in India for the world. Our first outlet in Mumbai is using technology to make it India’s first Phygital Casual footwear store, thereby disrupting the industry,” said co-founder and CEO Sumant Kakaria.
Additionally, it will strengthen its launch pipeline, explore new categories, and enhance its design innovation lab and R&D centre with the money.
“We look for brands that understand the consumers they are serving and create products that solve their unmet needs. Footwear is an enormous, albeit highly competitive category, and we believe the company is positioned to capture the untapped opportunity in the casual footwear segment,” said Vinay Singh, co-founder of Fireside Ventures.
According to the company, there is a high demand for fashionable, premium footwear from around the world at reasonable prices in India, the second-largest market for the shoe industry after China. Indian consumers are also conscious of value additions and the brands they choose. The non-leather footwear industry in India is projected to grow eight-fold by 2030 and is expected to surpass the $6 billion mark by 2024, and Solethreads, a homegrown design-led brand, is ready to keep pace.
“We have also taken a new age approach by digitising the offline business by enabling a B2B app for distributors, which enables us to have better demand planning. This initiative is designed to totally disrupt this space”, added Gaurav Chopra, co-founder of Solethreads.
