Lifestyle brand The Souled Store has raised Rs 135 crore from Xponentia Capital and with participation from current shareholders including Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital that have increased their shareholding in the company. This is Xponentia’s largest investment in the consumer sector.
The funding will be utilised by the company to expand into new categories and launch over 100 stores across India in the next two years. The investment will also be used to offer a buyback of 100 per cent of vested employee options, the lifestyle brand stated.
Founded in 2013 by co-founders Vedang Patel, Aditya Sharma, Rohin Samtaney, and Harsh Lal, The Souled Store, known for its fan merchandise, has 5.5 million Gen Z and Millennial customers. However, half of its revenue comes from non-fan merchandise. It has an annualised revenue of over Rs 450 crore GMV and has raised Rs 85 crore till date.
The Souled Store sells products including T-shirts, boxers, backpacks, shoes, socks, pins, badges etc and offers official, licensed merchandise from movies, TV shows, sports teams, comedians, and musicians.
Currently 70 per cent of its revenue comes via their website and app, while 15 per cent comes from offline and online marketplaces each. Around 60 per cent of revenue comes from outside the top 10 cities.
“Our design first thinking, high product quality, and deep understanding of the youth has helped us become a truly distinguished brand, and we plan to capitalise our high brand equity to grow current categories & foray into other lifestyle products. We are also expanding our offline presence & intend to create destination stores that would excite our customers. The Souled Store further aims to reach Rs 1,500 crore in revenue over the next three years and then go public,” said CEO Vedang Patel.
PR Srinivasan, Managing Partner, Xponentia Capital Partners said, “The Souled Store has established a distinctive brand and is in the process of creating a large community that identifies & relates with its casual wear products.”