Bombay Shaving Company raises ₹160 crore to test out international waters, may raise ₹300 crore more

• Bombay Shaving Company plans to enter the US, Europe, Middle East and Australia.
• It raised ₹160 crore as a part of this plan and plans to raise another ₹300 crore.
• The D2C brand counts Colgate Palmolive and Reckitt as its investors.

Grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company is looking to enter international markets — such as the US, Europe, Middle East (Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC) and Australia — with the latest fundraise of ₹160 crore.

The Series C round was led by Malabar Investments, with participation from Patni Advisors, Singularity AMC and several other high networth individuals (HNIs). Nearly ₹45 crore, of this ₹160 crore, was secondary capital that gave exit to the company’s employees and early backers.

The company is now looking to raise another ₹300 crore.

“We entered the market looking to raise ₹100 crore but were delighted to have received offers of above ₹500 crore. We will be evaluating how to further accommodate valuable investors. Also, we are happy to provide ₹45 crore exits to our employees and early investors…,” Bombay Shaving Company’s founder and chief executive Shantanu Deshpande, added.

The development comes nearly a year after Bombay Shaving Company raised ₹45 crore from global fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) player Reckitt Benckiser. Meanwhile, Colgate Palmolive has also been an investor in the company since 2018.

Bombay Shaving Company was launched in 2016 by Rohit Jaiswal, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker and Shantanu Deshpande. The company started off as a premium, direct-to-customer (D2C) shaving brand and has expanded into diverse hair removal categories since then.

The company forayed into women’s hair removal in 2020 with the launch of their brand ‘Bombay Shaving Company — Women’, which now accounts for a fourth of its entire business. The company now claims to have served over 3 million customers across channels in the last six years.

The D2C brand is now looking to expand its product portfolio further and scale operations to ₹500 crore top line with an omnichannel presence in the next two years. A part of the latest funding would be deployed on expanding the company’s product portfolio of personal care and hair removal.

Bombay Shaving Company will continue to aggressively expand its offline distribution, build international presence, invest in brand building and hire talent across positions.

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