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As India is now home to more than 100 Mn online shoppers, the D2C market is estimated to grow exponentially and hit $100 Bn by 2025, accounting for 60% of the ecommerce opportunity.

Delhi-based Shiprocket, a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider and an ecommerce/D2C enabler, has come up with a hand-holding initiative in the form of the RocketFuel Accelerator programme.

RocketFuel will be shortlisting more startups and plans to commence the second batch in the coming months.

In the past few years, more than 800 new-age, digital-first Indian brands have done away with business intermediaries and taken the direct-to-consumer (D2C) route to ensure greater operational efficiency, more control on profit and expenditure, and effective customer engagement. The D2C format, an ecommerce spin-off of sorts, has been here for the past few years. But it has flourished most during pandemic times after offline operations came to a shuddering halt and businesses resorted to online selling almost overnight. 

The D2C growth has been further fuelled by the shift in consumer mindset as people have opted for online shopping for the sake of safety and convenience. As India is now home to more than 100 Mn online shoppers, the D2C market is estimated to grow exponentially and hit $100 Bn by 2025, accounting for 60% of the ecommerce opportunity. 

Among the D2C sub-segments, fashion has the highest growth potential and is estimated to reach $43.2 Bn by 2025. Also, apparel and footwear is the most significant fashion category that is likely to capture nearly 77.6% of the online fashion market by 2025. 

Given the growth prospects, many new entrants are making a foray into the D2C space. However, not all newbies have extensive knowledge of the core DNA and the best practices to make them successful and sustainable, even when life returns to normal. 

Keen to help new businesses and entrepreneurs scale up in a capital-efficient manner during these transformational times, Delhi-based Shiprocket, a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider and an ecommerce/D2C enabler, has come up with a hand-holding initiative in the form of the RocketFuel Accelerator programme. 

Launched in September 2020, the programme aims to empower startups with effective mentoring, expert advice, funding and market access. The first batch of the accelerator programme included seven startups across consumer-facing segments, ranging from wearable technology and audio accessories to packaged food, meal supplements, nutraceuticals, fashion accessories and more.

“Our vision for the next three years is to build a community of 200 top brands across D2C categories and be a part of their journey,’’ said Vishesh Khurana, cofounder (growth) at Shiprocket.   

Watch Vishesh Khurana and Apoorva Singhal (strategy and investment leader, Shiprocket) talk about the company’s RocketFuel Accelerator programme and what it has to offer to early-stage D2C startups. 

RocketFuel will be shortlisting more startups and plans to commence the second batch in the coming months.

In September 2021, Shiprocket announced collaborating with Huddle to launch the RocketFuel X Huddle accelerator programme to invest $1 Mn towards the mentoring of growth-stage D2C startups. Huddle is a Delhi-based sector-agnostic incubator for early stage startups. 

The 3PL platform that offers cost-effective shipping solutions to D2C brands has so far raised $280 Mn in funding. Its latest round of $185 Mn was co-led by Zomato, Temasek and Lightrock India.