Chasing The Scent Of India’s Next D2C Breakout

Many Indian beauty and personal care brands are already weaving fragrance into their core value proposition across skincare and body care. Between 2018 and 2025, at least 30 fragrance brands entered the ecosystem, according to Inc42 research

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For a moment, forget fintech meltdowns and edtech reinventions. Ignore quick-commerce platforms racing to deliver dal-rice in 10 minutes and athleisure brands fighting for gym-mirror selfies.

Instead, picture this: cricketer Suryakumar Yadav slipping into the iconic Kachra Seth avatar from the movie ‘Phir Hera Pheri’ for a campaign with House of EM5, a D2C fragrance brand known for solid perfumes, affordable sprays and premium blends. The Instagram reel quickly went viral, clocking 24.5 Mn+ views and about 1.5 Mn likes.

The timing wasn’t random. Weeks earlier, Yadav had invested in the brand. Last year, EM5 also raised ₹1 Cr from Aman Gupta on Shark Tank India Season 4.

EM5 isn’t alone. Since 2025, a clutch of pure-play fragrance startups has started drawing consumer VC attention. Fraganote raised $1 Mn to push affordable luxury perfumes with backing from Rukam Capital. Secret Alchemist, positioning itself around “clean perfumes” blending fragrance with wellness and aromatherapy, has raised $3 Mn from Unilever Ventures.

Investors such as V3 Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners are preparing to enter the space, while Fireside Ventures calls fragrance its “fastest-growing BPC sub-segment.”

Sauce.vc partner Yash Dholakia says the moment resembles the early days of premium skincare: the category was small, but adoption accelerated quickly. Many of the brands getting funded today could evolve into fragrance-first personal care brands, where one scent extends across products like skin fragrance, hair fragrance, face wash and body wash.

“The closest parallel is Bath & Body Works, where consumers buy multiple products in the same fragrance. Some brands may follow that path, while others may try building a fragrance house or an India-for-the-world play,” he said.

The Heart Of The Fragrance Boom

Chasing new brands are incumbents. Many Indian beauty and personal care brands are already weaving fragrance into their core value proposition across skincare and body care.

For example, mCaffeine already has a range of personal care products with coffee as a main fragrance, and it also launched perfume-infused lotions, while Plum Goodness built fragrance-led routines, extending them across body mist, perfume and body care products.

Two key drivers of this shift are aggressive marketing by early movers like Fogg, Bella Vita, and Wild Stone, which shaped consumer acceptance of Indian fragrance and perfume brands, thanks largely to their focus on affordability with SKUs being sold at ₹300–500 (similar to deodorants).

This made it very easy for the average consumer to experiment and get familiar with how to judge fragrances, according to House of EM5 founder Shashank Chourey. That early wave has now gained momentum, with brands maturing in other categories and seeing an open opportunity in the fragrance space, where there is enough room for competition and no clear winner.

A Clear Whitespace: An increasingly aspirational audience is shifting from deodorants to perfumes, with brands sparking curiosity through unique scents (examples: dessert or vanilla notes). Premiumisation and gifting are also boosting demand for branded fragrances.

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V3 Ventures cofounder Arjun Vaidya says that between affordable options like attar and deodorants (₹100-₹500) and luxury labels (₹8,000–₹48,000+), there’s a lot of room for new-age brands in the Indian fragrance market, catering to an underserved segment of consumers.

“When we look at the market, you can see a gap in the ₹1,000-₹4,000 range, where the ‘affordable to mid-premium’ segment lies and where Indian brands can build scale, especially with strong margins and the rise of quick commerce and digital-first buying behaviour,” said Vaidya.

Room For Multiple Players: From legacy players like Skinn by Titan and early incumbents like Bella Vita to private labels such as Nykaa Perfumery, Mamaearth and FIEN by mCaffeine, and pure-play startups like House of EM5, Adil Qadri — the market is still up for grabs. Unlike deodorants, which were built on retail distribution, fragrance growth is happening largely digital-first, driven by younger consumers who are more experimental.

“These are still early days, and no player controls a dominant share yet. While the space may look crowded, breakouts will happen,” said Dholakia.

“But investors should view this with a long-term lens. Most seed investors have a five-to-seven-year horizon, and this is not a category where massive outcomes will happen in three years.”

Low Entry Barrier: Fragrance as a category has relatively low entry barriers with easy access to fragrance houses, minimal upfront investment and readily available bottling facilities. This has led to a wave of new launches.

Between 2018 and 2025, at least 30 fragrance brands entered the ecosystem, according to Inc42 research. The entrants range from D2C startups to marketplaces like Nykaa, horizontal BPC brands such as Mamaearth, and even celebrities and perfumers launching their own labels. Most horizontal D2C BPC players and marketplaces now have ‘Fragrance’ as a dedicated category on their home page.

Even so, the relatively competitive market and the absence of a clear playbook on whether this will become a distribution-led, brand-led or product-led category have kept some investors cautious.

For example, many leading consumer venture capital firms, like Sauce, have yet to sign any cheques in this space, as they are still observing the market. Those who have invested are largely betting on teams that can execute well and build truly differentiated brands.

As Shashank Chourey, the founder of House of EM5, explains, in personal care, categories often fall into clear buckets such as functional-first, fragrance-first, ingredient-first or experience-led. Fragrance, too, is starting to fragment.

The real action is now happening at the second layer of the market, where brands have to clearly define what they stand for. Metrics like brand positioning, storytelling, sustainable revenue churn, control on manufacturing, quality product at the right price point are becoming critical.

“We lean into raw, bold fragrances with names such as Aghori, Chambal, Bhairav and Sundarbans. The idea is to create intense, masculine scents that stand apart from more conventional fragrance lines. We have 150+ SKU’s and the repeat rate is 54% across 30 days. We have been net profitable since day one,” Chourey claimed.

Because of this shift, investors are paying closer attention to how a brand positions itself, not just the fact that it sells perfumes. Simply being a fragrance brand is no longer enough. It’s quite easy to package first or second copies of fragrances into a new brand and get some initial traction, but investors are looking for signs of long-term brand building from the get go.

V3’s Vaidya hit the nail on the head when it comes to such “me-too” brands in the market, which are becoming far too common as seen on social media platforms. “Dupes are a big red flag for us. We’re looking for brands that build real loyalty — brands that invest in their ethos, their community and genuine consumer love, and can sustain that momentum over time.”

SPOTLIGHT | CONFLUXE IS HELPING GLOBAL FASHION BRANDS TO ENTER INDIA

Brainchild of former Myntra executive Rajesh Narkar and former H&M India executive Louis Coucke — Confluxe is a freshly incorporated startup which is working towards bridging the gap between global brands and the Indian market by offering end-to-end digital commerce solutions and local supply chain assistance.

The platform works as an operating partner for global brands, helping them in managing marketplace presence, D2C channels, and retail expansion without building local infrastructure from scratch.

As the startup plans to scale and announce initial brand partnerships, investors have also made their bets. Confluxe recently raised $1.6 Mn in pre-seed funding led by Wavemaker Partners, with participation from Kriscore Capital to develop its technology infrastructure.

Zivame’s Second Act: After its acquisition by Reliance Retail in 2020, Zivame is scripting a second act — expanding stores, strengthening private labels and chasing growth as India’s lingerie market becomes more competitive.

Mosaic Wellness Raises Over ₹200 Cr: The health and wellness startup has raised the funds in a round led by 360One Asset, as it looks to accelerate growth and expand across its consumer health platforms. Founded in 2020, Mosaic Wellness operates digital health platforms Man Matters, Be Bodywise and Little Joys.

Bonkers Corner Raises Nearly ₹140 Cr: The streetwear brand has raised $15 Mn Series A round led by India SME Investments. The largest cheque came from India SME Investments, which invested ₹64.5 Cr and acquired around 15% stake in the company.

Aditi Toys’ Funding: The homegrown toy manufacturing company bagged ₹36 Cr in a fresh funding round to expand its footprint across India and global markets. The Rajkot-based startup manufactures and sells 280 toys made from materials like plastic, die-cast, electric, STEM, silicone and wood.

The Operator Question

How do discovery formats like sample kits or mini packs materially improve conversion rates for your brand? We reached out to Arush Chopra, who founded Just Herbs, a beauty and personal care brand, which was acquired by Marico

Discovery formats are essentially the digital equivalent of in-store sampling. They allow consumers to try a product before committing to a full-size purchase, which is particularly important in categories like fragrances, where personal preference plays a big role. By offering smaller, lower-risk entry points, brands can reduce hesitation and move consumers more smoothly toward larger purchases.

Key elements that make discovery formats work are:

Lower decision risk: Fragrances often come in many variants. Sample kits allow customers to test multiple scents before choosing a full-size bottle.

Improves conversion: Once customers find a scent they like, they are more likely to upgrade to the full-size version.

Works well in high-choice categories: This strategy is effective in products with many options such as perfumes, lipsticks with multiple shades, teas with different flavours, or skincare variants.

Replicates offline sampling online: Discovery kits bridge the gap created by online-first distribution where customers cannot physically test products.

Margin-friendly sampling: Ideally, samples should be designed as high-margin products so the brand does not lose money while running the strategy.

Customer acquisition tool: Discovery packs also function as a low-cost entry product that introduces new customers to the brand.

© Inc42

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