[Funding Alert] The Souled Store Bags Rs 135 cr from Xponentia Capital and Others

Xponentia Capital has led a fundraising round of Rs 135 crore for The Souled Store, in which current shareholders, Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital, have also participated, increasing their ownership in the Company. 

The additional funds will be utilized to expand into new categories and launch over 100 stores across India within the next 2 years. Additionally, the investment will enable the company to offer a buyback of 100 percent of vested employee options.

With 5.5 million gen Z and millennial customers, The Souled Store made its name as  India’s leading fan merchandise brand and has evolved into India’s most loved lifestyle brand with almost half its revenue coming from non-fan merchandise. The brand started operations in 2013 and is led by co-founders Vedang Patel, Aditya Sharma, Rohin  Samtaney, and Harsh Lal.  

The Souled Store is at an annualized revenue of Rs 450+ crore GMV and has raised Rs 85 crore to date, making it one of the most capital-efficient consumer businesses in India. Currently, 70 percent of revenue comes from their app/ website, 15 percent from offline stores, and 15 percent from online marketplaces. 60 percent of revenue comes from outside the top 10 cities and the new offline stores will deepen their presence in tier ll and lll cities. 

Vedang Patel, CEO commented, “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 capitalize our high brand equity to grow current categories and foray into other lifestyle products. We are also expanding our offline presence and intend to create destination stores that would excite our customers. The Souled Store further aims to reach Rs 1500 crore in Revenue over the next three years and then go public.” 

PR Srinivasan, Managing Partner, Xponentia Capital  Partners said, "Xponentia seeks to work with entrepreneurial teams that are setting new standards to disrupt their markets and create high growth, business models. The Souled Store has established a distinctive brand and is in the process of creating a large community that identifies and relates with its casual wear products. We look  forward to supporting Vedang and his team as The Souled Store continues to innovate  and delight its customers.”