Women’s fast fashion brand Libas has raised Rs 150 crore ($18 million approx.) in its maiden funding round from IAF Series 5, a fund managed by ICICI Venture.
The 10-year-old bootstrapped venture, founded by Sidhant Keshwani and Sunil Keshwani, plans to use the capital for expansion of its offline stores and technology development.
Primarily starting out as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) online brand, Libas, over the last 18 months, has ventured into the offline space and opened around 18 retail outlets.
“Having profitably run the offline operations since its inception we did not want to slow down our growth momentum, and this funding will provide the acceleration,” Libas Founder and CEO Sidhant Keshwani said.
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According to the CEO of Libas, the company is running a profitable operation overall, and the external funding will speed up its offline expansion, which would have taken more time if it had used the capital from internal resources.
In the next two years, the omnichannel brand plans to expand its offline stores to 150 across various parts of the country.
Keshwani believes that, despite the upsurge in online shopping, the traditional retail channel still remains a dominant factor. Libas too witnessed the movement of shoppers–who had experienced its online presence– to its offline stores.
The brand has an online presence on platforms such as Flipkart and Myntra, alongside an offline presence through EBOs, large format stores, and multi-brand outlets.
Besides offline expansion, Libas will also use the funding to scale up its technology in supply chain and D2C.
“As a fast fashion brand, it is important to bring down the turnaround time of introducing new trends to the market, and technology is helping us do that,” said Keshwani.
Libas generated a revenue of Rs 500 crore for FY24. It expects to register a growth of 40-45% in the current fiscal.
On the investment into Libas, Gagandeep S Chhina, Senior Director, Private Equity, ICICI Venture, said, “Libas has demonstrated industry leading growth characteristics in a capital efficient manner and plans to strengthen its digital presence while focussing on its offline expansion and omnichannel capabilities in the Indian market.”
Edited by Megha Reddy
