Soothe Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, the firm behind Paree brand of sanitary napkins, on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 100 crore ($13.6 million) as part of its extended Series C funding round.
The funding was led by Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), Northern Arc and KKR backed Incred, said Soothe Healthcare in a statement.
The latest transaction included a secondary component that saw its existing backer Sixth Sense Ventures selling a partial stake to GII.
Sixth Sense Ventures, floated by Nikhil Vora, an early investor in Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd, had invested in Soothe Healthcare in 2016.
The extended Series C funding round comes just weeks after Soothe Healthcare raised Rs 130 crore as part of its Series C investment from private equity firm A91 Partners, floated by former Sequoia Capital India executives.
Sahil Dharia, founder and CEO, Soothe Healthcare, said it will use the fresh capital to expand its in-house manufacturing facilities.
Part of the funds will also be deployed for marketing and distribution purposes, scaling production and launching new products, he added.
Soothe Healthcare's portfolio includes feminine hygiene products including its flagship brand Paree.
It also recently launched baby diapers Super Cute. It claims it has grown over two-fold in the last 12 months despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Mohammed Alhassan and Pankaj Gupta, co-CEOs of GII, noted that Soothe has achieved advantageous brand positioning of its flagship feminine hygiene offering Paree which is set to score multi-fold growth in the coming years.
"GII recognises the underpenetrated personal hygiene market in India; a country with one of the world’s highest women and infant populations in the world, many of whom lag behind their global peers in the usage and adoption of personal and disposable hygiene products," they added.
GII manages around $2 billion in assets across venture capital, private equity, and real estate, among others.
In July, it led an investment in Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd, which manufactures lithium-ion battery-powered two-wheelers.
Several startups focused on wellness and healthcare of women have been getting investor interest in the past years.
In May, VCCircle reported that Nexus Venture Partners has led a seed funding round in a healthcare platform focused on women.
Earlier in January, VCCircle reported that Auntfloh, a digital healthcare brand for women, raised its first round of external funding from individuals including prominent startup founders.
In the same month, iMumz, a pregnancy-focused startup, raised Rs 2.2 crore (a little over $300,000) in a round.
Last year, Sanfe, a startup that sells women-focused toilet hygiene products, raised its pre-Series A round of funding. Women-focused networking platform Leap Club also raised fresh funding last year.
Other women-focused startups that have raised funding include Pee Safe, Sirona, PeeBuddy, Azah Personal Care and Nua.
