The Makers of New CPG

It was just two years back when I was casually talking to an Institutional Fund investor at the IReC event about the Future of D2C e-commerce. He answered that as investors if a D2C Brand reaches Rs.100 crores, we equate them similar to a tech unicorn. This was also the time when no D2C Brand had crossed the 100 crore mark and today with one normal year and one pandemic year - India has a new League of direct-to-consumer (D2C) eCommerce entrepreneurs who are challenging the traditional online marketplaces. India already boasts of as many as 600 D2C brands and more than 16 brands with an annual turnover of more than $60 million and a couple of them almost achieving the celebrated Unicorn badge. The Avendus report further says the country's D2C business is going to be worth $100 billion in five years. So powerful is the model of D2C that during 2020 almost all big FMCG companies globally have switched over in one form or the other towards D2C to capture the consumer directly.

Our current issue of The Makers Co is dedicated to a new generation of disruptive entrepreneurs who are blending CPG and technology and are shaking up retail with direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies that build, market, sell, and ship their products themselves. In the process, these brands, spanning everything from food to footwear, are drastically resetting consumer preferences and expectations. The 20+ companies featured in the Makers Co list were born mostly in the last 5 years and have been the beneficiaries of platforms Like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram, and Flipkart. With a dominant presence in Google's search results, turning Instagram followers into micro-influencers, and using highly targeted Facebook ads to grow their audiences, they've shown extraordinary resilience amid the Covid-19 pandemic and have grown several times over. It will be interesting to see how D2C founders will take their business presence global particularly once the pandemic eases.

Our current issue also shares how Kunal Bahl is turning the wheels of growth for consumer-facing startups through his fund Titan capital. There is also a focus on why ESOP buyouts are becoming the talk of the town.

In Our next issue, we look into how Co-working spaces will become hot once again as pandemic has unleashed the trend of WFH, and corporates and mid-sized organizations are today happy to carry on with the hybrid trend in the post-pandemic era. Stay with us to learn about new trends in co-working and also the top co-working spaces that are capitalizing on the new working trends.

Ritu Marya

Editor in chief

E-mail me at:

rmarya@entrepreneurindia.com