The company will also offer a buyback of 100 per cent of vested employee options, benefitting around 30 Souled Store employees
The Souled Store, an Indian lifestyle brand, has raised Rs 135 crore ($16 million) in a funding round led by Xponentia Capital, with participation from Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital. The funds will be used to expand into new product categories and launch over 100 stores across India within the next two years.
The investment will also allow the company to buy back 100 per cent of vested employee options, benefiting around 30 employees. The Souled Store said to have an annualised revenue of over Rs 450 crore gross merchandise value (GMV) and has raised Rs 85 crore to date.
Founded in 2013 by Vedang Patel, Aditya Sharma, Rohin Samtaney and Harsh Lal, The Souled Store began as a fan merchandise brand and now generates almost half of its revenue from non-fan merchandise. Currently, 70 per cent of revenue comes from the company's app or website, 15 per cent from offline stores, and 15 per cent from online marketplaces. The brand plans to deepen its presence in tier II and III cities through new offline stores.
“Our design first thinking, high product quality and deep understanding of the youth have helped us become a truly distinguished brand, and we plan to capitalise our high brand equity to grow current categories and foray into other lifestyle products. We are also expanding our offline presence and intend to create destination stores that would excite our customers. The Souled Store further aims to reach Rs 1500 crore in revenue over the next three years and then go public,” said Vedang Patel, chief executive officer of The Souled Store.
“Xponentia seeks to work with entrepreneurial teams that are setting new standards to disrupt their markets and create high-growth business models. The Souled Store has established a distinctive brand and is in the process of creating a large community that identifies and relates with its casual wear products. We look forward to supporting Vedang and his team as The Souled Store continues to innovate and delight its customers,” added PR Srinivasan, managing partner of Xponentia Capital Partners.
Each newly created entity will be responsible for its performance and able to pursue initial public offerings when ready
The Gurugram-based firm plans to use the funds to fuel its ongoing transition into a global business with significant operations in the USA, Gulf, and Europe
Zomato currently has over three lakh delivery partners in the country
