[Funding alert] Smytten raises Rs 100 Cr in funding from Fireside, Roots Ventures

Smytten, tech-enabled product discovery and trial platform has raised Rs 100 crore in its Pre-Series B funding round from Fireside Ventures and Roots Ventures.

Many investors including Waao Partners, Survam Partners, Sharrp Ventures and Sattva Group Family Office participated in this round.

The startup plans to use the funds for hiring engineering talent and scaling up its technology infrastructure with the help of AI and ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) for brand building and customer acquisition.

The Bengaluru-based Smytten was founded in 2015 by Swagat Sarangi and Siddhartha Nangia, Smytten is an online platform for product trials that has consumer-branded products from various categories such as fragrances, beauty and makeup, men's grooming, food and beverages, and others. It provides product samples to consumers in these categories and seeks real-time feedback from users after sampling.

It is present in India and will enter global markets in the next 24 months.

“We are looking at a significant growth and push this year. The funding we have raised will be used for five different growth aspects of the business. One is the significant growth of the technology and infrastructure. Currently, B2B brands in the D2C segment has seen significant growth, and we want to continue onboarding one to our partners everyday”, said, Siddhartha Nangia, Co-founder of Smytten.

“We have to have a global presence and it cannot be just India. In the next 24 months, we plan to launch our platform in the Middle East, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries,” he added.

The company is currently at an annual revenue run rate (ARR) of Rs 140 crore and aims to achieve an ARR of Rs 500 crore by the end of Fiscal Year 2023.

“We are looking to hire around 120 150 people, most of them will be for the senior management level…10 million is our current consumer base and we intend to acquire another 10 million by the end of this year,” Nangia said.

The online platform currently has around 920 brands on its platform and is targeting to launch another 700 brands in the next 12 months.

Smytten has clients including D2C brands like Mamaearth, Plum, MCaffeine, Wow Skin, Maybelline, Man Matters, Bodywise, The Man Company, & more.

Smyttenhadraised $6 million in a Series A funding round led by Fireside Ventures in August 2021.

“We are in talks in two brands in Korea, and even from Turkey, the US, and the UK…we will onboard the same in the coming months,” Nangia said.

“We continue to believe in the development of an enabling ecosystem for the consumer brand revolution that’s shaping up in India and Smytten is right at the forefront of it. Their integrated approach to consumer funnel and technological innovations to solve the key challenges faced by many D2C brands, makes them the unequivocal leader in a potentially $10 billion sampling and advertising market. The data-driven experiential solutions are already making waves and Smytten is becoming the first port of call for every consumer brand”, said, Kannan Sitaram, Partner at Fireside Ventures.

Japan Vyas, Managing Partner at Roots Ventures, quoted, “Smytten has grown more than 12X by revenue since the time we invested. We have participated in every round of fund raise they had and will continue to back them in future with even stronger conviction. We are very confident that Smytten is going to be a very large, profitable and fundamentally strong business in the consumer-tech space globally.”

About Smytten

#TrySomethingNew on India’s largest premium discovery and trial platform! Get free trials and curated shopping across 20+ lifestyle categories like Beauty, Skincare, Male Grooming, Food & Beverages, Health & Wellness, and more only on the Smytten App.