Gen Z focused women’s denimwear brand Freakins raises $4M led by Matrix Partners India and Blume Ventures

‍Wednesday, 5^th July 2023, Mumbai: Freakins, a home-grown denim fashion brand for Gen Z women, announced that it has raised $4M in a seed round, led by Matrix Partners India and Blume Ventures. The D2C brand will employ the funds to expand its omnichannel presence, strengthen operations and amplify salience amongst its consumers.

The company also raised capital from over 30 angel investors like Revant Bhate (Mosaic Wellness), Navin Agarwal (Sonal Apparels), Chakradhar Gade (Country Delight), Utkrishta Kumar (Meesho), Asish Mohapatra (OfBusiness) and prominent influencers like Aayush Wadhwa, Tarini Shah and Agastya Shah.

Freakins was established with the mission of providing the finest denim wear for women in India. The brand boasts of an extensive line-up of over 1500+ styles, featuring trendy fits, washes and rips that cater to diverse body types, preferences, and occasions. The brand is led by a young team who understands the Gen Z pulse and is sold through both D2C channels and marketplaces.

The company was founded by Puneet Sehgal and Shaan Shah, with partner Sachin Shah. Puneet brings with him extensive experience in business leadership and supply chain management from his previous positions at Hopscotch and Amazon, to name a few. This, combined with Shaan's marketing prowess and consumer insights, has enabled them to create a brand that resonates with contemporary consumers.

The funds will be strategically deployed to bolster the brand’s supply chain capabilities by forging partnerships with factories specializing in denim, knits, and woven fabrics. It aims to expand its presence in other geographies, invest in quality talent and launch new SKUs. With a strong focus on partnerships with creators, it also plans to launch exclusive collections designed to cater to the likes of our consumers.

Puneet Sehgal, Founder & CEO, Freakins shared, "Freakins was launched with the objective of offering denimwear for different body types. Our brand's unique approach has resonated strongly with the youth nationwide. The funding will facilitate our expansion into new categories, further enhance our manufacturing capabilities and extend our distribution footprint. By owning the end-to-end process, from storefront to design and factories, we maintain exceptional quality control and achieve faster turnaround times, enabling us to adapt to the changing consumer preferences.”

On the fundraise, Rajat Agarwal, MD, Matrix Partners India, said, “At Matrix Partners India, we believe that our country will see the emergence of several large consumer businesses over the next decade. As our GDP per capita goes from $2,500 to $5,000, a large proportion of incremental income will go towards discretionary consumption. Apparels are a key part of this discretionary basket and we believe Freakins is uniquely positioned to capture the Gen Z fast fashion opportunity. They have innovated on supply chain, product design as well as on brand building through their unique influencer-led strategy. We are excited to partner with Puneet, Shaan and the Freakins team as they look to build the next fashion behemoth from India.”

Apurva Dixit, AVP Investments, Blume Ventures, shared, “Freakins is Blume’s largest bet in consumer brands in recent times. At Blume, we believe in investing in brands demonstrating sustainable and profitable growth, targeting large markets. Apparel is an enormous albeit highly competitive category. We believe that in Puneet and Shaan, we have both strong operational DNA and an influential design sense. Freakins has the potential to be the new household name in fashion.”

The denim wear market in India is projected to grow at a staggering 25% CAGR over the next five years. As the younger generation embraces denim in its many forms, Freakins strives to actively cater to their fashion-forward needs, ensuring they stay up-to-date with the latest trends.

Dexter Capital Advisors were the exclusive advisors in this round of funding.

About Freakins:
Mumbai-based Freakins is India’s own Denim Wear brand that strongly believes in being bold and comfortable. Freakins was revamped by Shaan Shah and Puneet Sehgal in 2021. Freakins boldly experiments in designs and materials and a singular thought echoes the brand philosophy - “Dare to experiment.” Repurposing the staples made the brand enter the market with a new take on the iconic “Denim” for women. The brand aims to provide a constant variety in fashion and therefore releases new apparel every week. A Gen Z focussed brand; the company has over 35+ categories with over 1500 styles. All styles are meticulously designed and manufactured in-house, and products are sold through direct-to-consumer channels and marketplaces.

About Matrix Partners India:
Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early, and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several markets leading consumer-focused companies such as Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), Foxtale (skincare brand), Mosaic Wellness (health & wellness digital platform), W For Woman(ready-to wear fashion label), OZiva (India's leading clean, plant-based nutrition brand), Open Secret ('unjunked' snack brand), The Whole Truth (clean label food brand), DaMENSCH(premium men's apparel brand). Other marquee investments include Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt(mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), DealShare (social commerce platform), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), MoEngage (intelligent marketing cloud platform), Jupiter (consumer neo bank), Mswipe (mobile POS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) and Oxyzo (a tech-enabled smart financing solution provider) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.

For more information, please contact:
pr@matrixpartners.in

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