Brand stories
Offline stores, Blinkit and your own site: what three October D2C raises tell founders
Funding announcements are mostly read for the headline number. The more useful part is the paragraph about where the money will go. That's where founders say what they think actually grows a brand.
Three Indian D2C brands raised money in the first ten days of October 2026: a lifestyle-tech brand, a personal care brand and a beverage startup. They are very different sizes, but their plans rhyme. Here is what each one said, from public reports, and what a Shopify founder can take from it.
DailyObjects: from phone cases to 150 stores
Lifestyle-tech brand DailyObjects raised Rs 332 crore in a mix of primary and secondary transactions, at a valuation of around Rs 1,050 crore, in a round led by Xponentia Capital Partners, Anicut Capital and Axiom Asia Private Capital (Moneycontrol).
It started with phone cases and has grown into charging products, bags, wallets, laptop sleeves and workspace accessories. Its next step is physical: it plans to build 150 exclusive brand outlets across India over the next five years and already sells through retail touchpoints including Apple Premium Reseller outlets. When the round was first reported in May, the capital was earmarked for online distribution, particularly quick commerce, and a bigger offline footprint.
Co-founder and CEO Pankaj Garg was clear about the guardrail: "As we scale, capital efficiency and profitable growth will remain at the core of how we build."
Nat Habit: from 20,000 stores to 2 lakh
Personal care brand Nat Habit raised ₹142 crore in an all-primary Series C led by Trident Growth Partners (Inc42). The plan is to grow its offline presence from about 20,000 stores to 2 lakh over three years, enter modern trade, strengthen quick commerce and move into new categories such as sunscreens and serums.
The interesting part is the audience shift. Nat Habit has mostly sold to higher-income, higher-education consumers. Now it wants to reach what it calls the "Bharat consumer", with changes to pack sizes and communication. The company says it has served more than 60 lakh households.
Inc42's report also carries a warning: expansion has proved difficult for some brands, and it notes The Ayurveda Co's closure. Scale is a plan, not a guarantee.
Sober & Co: every channel has a job
The smallest raise is the clearest lesson. Zero-sugar mixer brand Sober & Co raised Rs 75 lakh from New Ground Collective, a syndicate of seven angel investors, at a Rs 10 crore valuation (Indian Retailer). The money goes into inventory, manufacturing, quick-commerce advertising and the team. The brand plans to launch on Zepto alongside Blinkit and enter Pune by December 2026.
The company reports that its CM2 margin moved from negative 9.09% to positive 1.7% and that it reached breakeven in July. Co-founder and CEO Sharaan Kriplani explained the channel logic in one line: "We're building where the category is actually won — HoReCa for credibility, Blinkit for reach, and now D2C to own the customer relationship." He added that the plan is to go deeper in Kolkata and Goa before going wide.
The pattern across all three
- The website isn't the whole business. All three are spending on offline retail, quick commerce or both. Online-only is turning into one channel among several.
- Each channel gets a job. Sober & Co says it outright: credibility, reach and the customer relationship come from different places.
- Profit is part of the pitch. "Capital efficiency", CM2 margin and breakeven show up in the announcements, not just growth.
- Depth before width. Sober & Co is going city by city. Nat Habit is changing pack sizes for a new audience before chasing more shelves.
What the announcements don't tell you
Funding news is a plan, not a result. The store counts are targets, and figures like Sober & Co's margin and Nat Habit's household count are what the companies themselves report. Offline and quick commerce also come with costs the press releases don't spell out: rent, staff, inventory sitting on more shelves, platform fees and ad spend inside the quick-commerce apps.
So the lesson isn't "open stores" or "get on Blinkit". It's that these founders are choosing each channel for a specific reason and talking openly about margin while they do it. That habit costs nothing to copy.
What a Shopify founder can take from it
- Give every channel one job. Write down what your website, marketplaces, quick commerce and offline each do for you: reach, trust, margin or repeat orders. Then judge each one on that job.
- Track margin by channel, not just sales. Quick-commerce ads, marketplace fees, COD and returns all land differently. Know your contribution margin in each.
- Use your own site for the relationship. It's where you can collect WhatsApp opt-ins, learn what a customer buys next and bring them back without paying for a fresh click.
- Go deep before wide. Win one city, one category or one audience properly before adding the next.