Peepul Capital III LLC, a fund managed by Peepul Capital LLC, has invested Rs 70 crore ($13.54 million) in Bangalore-based Brandis Manufacturing and Marketing Ltd in multiple tranches for an undisclosed stake.
Established in 2010 by Nischal Puri, Brandis is an emerging firm in lingerie and men’s active-wear segment. It owns two brands called BEYOUTY and 2GO. BEYOUTY is a lingerie brand launched in May 2011 while 2GO is men’s active wear brand, launched in February this year.
The funding raised will be used to expand the company’s operations, set up production facilities and build its brands.
“Brandis aims to become a significant player in the fragmented women’s innerwear segment in the next few years. There is a huge gap in the expectations of women consumers and the brand offerings in the segment. Brandis aims to narrow this gap and climb up the brand preference ladder through its brand BEYOUTY,” said Puri, founder and MD of Brandis.
Women's apparel market in India is estimated at Rs 72,050 crore and the lingerie market accounts for a tenth of that. The highly fragmented lingerie market is growing at 12 per cent per annum, with few large national brands, according to the firm.
PE-firm Peepul Capital, with $700 million in assets under management, has invested in more than 35 industries, such as consumer products & services, specialised engineering and telecom, since its inception in 2000. Since January this year, it invested in two more companies – Consul Consolidated Pvt Ltd and Cura Healthcare Pvt Ltd.
“Brandis is our first growth capital investment in the apparel space and we are very excited by the opportunity to build a stable of strong brands in the innerwear and active-wear categories. Our belief is that the space is still very fragmented and there is tremendous opportunity for a player who is able to present the right product-pricing-imagery matrix to the consumer,” said Venkat Shankar, investment director at Peepul Capital Advisors.
Lovable Lingerie and Page Industries are two other PE-backed players in the innerwear sector and both of them are public-listed companies.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
