Innovist, the parent company of beauty and personal care (BPC) brands like Bare Anatomy and Chemist at Play, has raised INR 136 Cr (about $15.8 Mn) in its Series B round. The round was a mix of primary and secondary, and was led by ICICI Venture via its new early growth fund, IVen Amplifi.
Mirabilis Investment Trust, Niveshaay Investment, and existing backer Sauce.vc also participated in the round. The fresh proceeds will be used to drive product innovation, scale operations, and expand the team.
The secondary portion of the round saw early investor Accel exiting the startup. However, it didn’t provide a breakup of the primary and secondary deal sizes.
In a statement, Innovist founder and CEO Rohit Chawla said, “The capital infusion will be strategically allocated to achieve several key objectives such as product innovation, market expansion, and team building.”
Founded in 2018 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana, and Vimal Bhola, Innovist is a ‘house of brands’ startup with a focus on clean, transparent, and science-backed personal care products in haircare and skincare categories. It owns Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, SunScoop, and Vinci Botanicals brands.
It competes with the likes of Mamaearth, Desi Farms, Minimalist, among others.
Notably, Innovist claimed that it crossed INR 300 Cr revenue mark in the financial year ended March 2025 (FY25).
The funding comes at a time when India’s $5 Bn D2C BPC sector is witnessing heightened interest from investors and legacy FMCG players. Between 2014 and H1 2024, the sector has pulled in over $1 Bn in funding.
With the market expected to become a $28 Bn opportunity in the next five years, FMCG majors like Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Marico, and ITC have been actively acquiring science-led BPC startups to strengthen their portfolios.
HUL’s recent INR 2,670 Cr acquisition of Minimalist signals growing appetite for premium, research-backed brands. These deals offer mutual benefits—FMCG companies get access to fast-growing, trend-driven products, while D2C startups tap into large-scale offline distribution networks.
