House of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands UpScalio expects to clock net revenue of Rs 400 crore in FY24 with a 30-40% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth, as it targets to break even by April FY24, Nitin Agarwal, co-founder and chief growth officer (CGO), UpScalio, told Brandwagon Online. Currently, the company includes 10 brands as part of its roster and claims to have clocked net revenue of Rs 220 crore, however, he declined to share loss for FY22. Brandwagon Online could not verify the company’s claims. “Every brand of ours is profitable. Our profitability averages out to 12-13%. We are currently focusing on growing the existing brands multifold rather than acquiring new brands,” Agarwal added.
Moreover, as part of the cost optimisation process, the company claims to have laid off 15% of employees under the appraisal and restructuring process. Moreover, following its series-B funding round where it raised $15 million, the company aims to raise $30-50 million in its next phase of funding.
As per company assertions, online sales through Amazon account for around 60-70% of total sales, while its own website accounts for 15%. “The rest will be other marketplaces such as Flipkart and Pepperfry,” he highlighted. When asked about the company’s expansion plans, he stated that it has expanded its presence in the UAE and the US. “It has seen a slow uptake due to supply chain restrictions and shipment process which is at least a month-long cycle,” he added. Moreover, he added that the company plans to foray into omnichannel with GreenSoul, which will move offline by the end of FY24.
Digital accounts for a large part of its marketing budget, the company claimed. “We are primarily performance marketing driven at this stage. The platform marketing occurs on Amazon, Google and Facebook, and our marketing spends are actually quite low because we operate all these brands on a profitable basis,” Agarwal observed. Overall, the company stated that it spends Rs 15 crore on marketing costs and for individual brands, the marketing is derived from 10% of the net revenue.
In addition to digital marketing, the company had recently entered the domain of celebrity marketing with actor Taapsee Pannu as the face of its furniture brand GreenSoul and actor Neha Dhupia as the face of its kitchenware brand Hestia.
Since its inception in April 2021, UpScalio has acquired two laptop accessories brands Gizga and Tizun, in addition to two backpacks and luggage brands namely, AirCase and Polestar. The company also owns two brands under the home and kitchen categories, Homepuff and Hestia alongside Truphe, a home and gardening brand. Moreover, it includes its footwear brand Trase, car accessories brand Autofurnish and as part of its furniture category, GreenSoul.
