India's D2C boom is entering a new phase: Less big-money chasing, more business building

Remember when every other brand seemed to be going direct-to-consumer?

From skincare and jewellery to meat, dairy and fashion, India's D2C boom produced a new generation of brands that found customers online, built communities on social media and, importantly, attracted venture capital.

Now, the industry is growing up.


Indian D2C companies raised nearly $6 billion across around 2,000 equity funding rounds between January 2021 and August 2026, according to market intelligence platform Tracxn. The sector also recorded 15 IPOs and 105 acquisitions during the period.

Also Read: D2C kitchenware startup Curaa raises Rs 40 crore led by 3one4 Capital

The money is still coming, but the cheques have changed

D2C funding peaked at $1.6 billion in 2022, before falling to $824 million in 2024. It recovered 9% in 2025 to $898 million.

But deal activity remained remarkably steady. Every full year in the period saw between 307 and 380 funding rounds. In 2024, the number of rounds actually hit a period high even as total funding fell to its lowest level.

The shift towards younger companies is particularly clear. Seed and early-stage funding accounted for 70% of total D2C funding in 2025, compared with 38% in 2021. Early-stage funding has risen 66% from its 2023 low.

Late-stage funding, meanwhile, fell 69% in value between 2022 and 2025.

The D2C market, in other words, hasn't run out of money. Investors are just becoming more careful about which companies deserve the really big cheques.

The big winners still dominate

Five companies sit at the top of India's D2C funding leaderboard: Lenskart, Licious, FreshToHome, BlueStone and Country Delight.

Together, they have raised around $2.3 billion.

Lenskart alone has raised $981 million, accounting for roughly 43% of the group's funding. Lenskart and Licious together account for around 65%.

All five have been operating for at least a decade and the funding hasn't necessarily stopped. FreshToHome raised $15 million in January 2026, while Country Delight raised $7 million in May.

The stock market is becoming an exit route

Tracxn recorded 15 D2C IPOs between 2021 and August 2026. What's interesting is that companies are reaching the market through very different routes.

Lenskart went public in November 2025 after raising $981 million from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Temasek, KKR and ADIA.

Credo Brands, owner of menswear brand Mufti, took a very different path. It had never raised institutional funding before its December 2023 IPO.

Also Read: D2C skincare brand Asaya raises Rs 88 crore funding at Rs 400 crore valuation

Credo had been operating since 1998, taking 25 years to reach the public markets. Funded companies in Tracxn's group of prominent D2C IPOs took between seven and 17 years.

Venture capital can clearly accelerate growth, but India's consumer businesses are also showing that there is more than one way to reach the market.

The other exit: Sell to a giant

There is also another increasingly important exit route — getting bought.

India recorded 105 D2C acquisitions between 2021 and August 2026. And the buyers are often not other startups or private equity firms, but established consumer giants.

Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Retail, Wipro Consumer Care and Aditya Birla Group's TMRW have all been active in acquiring digital-first brands.

HUL's $350 million acquisition of skincare brand Minimalist in January 2025 was the largest disclosed deal among the five prominent transactions highlighted by Tracxn.

Reliance Retail acquired lingerie brand Clovia in 2022, while Wipro Consumer Care and USV India also completed D2C acquisitions in the first half of 2026.

For large consumer companies, buying a proven digital brand can be a faster way to enter a category or reach a new consumer than building one from scratch. For startup investors, it provides another potential route to an exit.

Also Read: D2C brands feel the pinch as consumers cut spending

From raising money to making money

That may be the clearest sign that India's D2C industry is maturing.

The first phase was about convincing consumers to buy everyday products from brands they discovered online. The second was about raising enough money to scale those brands across the country.

Now comes the harder test: building businesses that can generate sustainable returns.

Some have made it to the stock market. Some are being bought by India's biggest consumer companies. Many others are still fighting for their next round.