Aims to touch 5 crore households in 5 years, thereby reaching a revenue of ₹ 1000 crore
The company plans to use these funds to expand the D2C business and continues to work towards creating social and environmental impact in a responsible, transparent and sustainable manner
Clensta, a Gurgaon-based new-age start-up focusing on personal and home care products has raised ₹30 million as debt from impact investors Caspian. In addition to this, Clensta had also raised ₹20 crore funding from Hem Angels, part of Hem Securities Ltd, Venture Catalysts and Inflection Point Ventures in the Series A funding round last year. Caspian Debt is the first Indian Impact Investing firm to be granted a B Corp certification. Caspian ensures to only invest in enterprises that address problems of access and efficiency in business ecosystems that have a positive social or environmental impact.
During the last 20 years, consumer attention and emphasis on ESG has massively shot up, compelling brands to integrate ESG as part of their business offerings. According to a recent study (PWC Consumer Intelligence Series, June 2, 2021), 83 percent of consumers believe businesses should actively create ESG best practices, and consumer demand for ESG products and services is already becoming mainstream. As a conscious, ESG driven brand, Clensta, has secured ₹30 million as debt from Caspian Debt and it plans to use these funds to scale their D2C business and work towards creating innovative and sustainable products.
Commenting on the partnership, Avishek Gupta MD, Caspian Debt said, “We are pleased to onboard Clensta given how it is at the forefront of creating and championing innovative sustainable products for hygiene and sanitisation of consumers and households. We, at Caspian Debt, are committed to partner with companies who are addressing pressing challenges for building a better world. In the last eight years, we have supported growth journeys of over 200 path breaking companies and are excited to have Clensta join this league”.
Caspian leverages its expertise of early-stage enterprises that operate in this sphere and bring their capital and expertise to improving the outreach and viability of businesses. As of now, over 200 start-ups, social enterprises, and mid-market companies have received loans from the company, totaling to over INR 2,000 crore received from Caspian Debt by various start-ups during the past eight years.
Puneet Gupta, Founder, Clensta said, “Clensta’s mission is to seek the better way of providing value through innovation. Our aim is to touch 5 crore households with our solutions in 5 years, thereby reaching a revenue of ₹ 1000 crores. We are extremely happy to have Caspian on board as our partners in this journey, given their legacy in backing impactful entities. We are confident that we will be able to use these funds to expand our D2C business while continuing our work towards creating social and environmental impact in a responsible, transparent and sustainable manner”.
The IIT Delhi backed start-up founded in 2016, Clensta is creating a powerful branded house by entering multiple categories through its sub-brands like home care (Homsta), skin care (Skinsta), hair care (Hairsta), wellness (Wellsta) and others. Its mission is to create goods that are innovative, sustainable and affordable and they put a strong emphasis on meeting consumer demands in “the better way” across all goods and categories.
Over time, its research collaboration with IIT Delhi has assisted it in patenting a number of ground-breaking innovations, including STAR, EBDC, PAP, PAR, CRAN, RACS, and waterless technology. Cipla markets its waterless product line in India while attempting to establish strong direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales as well as conventional offline retail channels for its homecare and personal care product lines.
To grow its business, Clensta has also made investments in assembling a solid team with more than 100 years of combined expertise. Industry veterans from Walmart, Aditya Birla Group, EY, Mahindra & CarDekho group, and SRCC, SP Jain, and MDI Gurgaon are among them. The team also has entrepreneurial flair with a couple of ex-founders part of their roster.
