Former Google, Unilever execs’ Indian D2C product sampling startup raises $6m

Smytten, an India-based sampling and engagement platform for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, has raised US$6 million in a series A round led by Fireside Ventures.

Smytten co-founders Swagat Sarangi (left) and Siddhartha Nangia / Photo credit: Smytten

The round also saw participation from family offices Sharrp Ventures, Survam Partners, and Waao Partners. Smytten’s existing investor, Roots Ventures, also participated in the latest round.

The startup will primarily use the fresh investment for building tech and data solutions to optimize the marketing funnel for D2C, assisting with everything from new product development to consumer acquisition and retention. The platform will also invest in widening its touchpoints for product trials across the country.

Smytten was founded in 2015 by Swagat Sarangi, a former Google executive, and Siddhartha Nangia, an ex-Unilever executive. The startup lays emphasis on digitalizing the product trial experience for consumers.

With more than 5 million users, the startup is one of the largest D2C sampling platforms in India. It enables over 700 D2C brand partners on its platform to engage in product sampling every month.

See also: D2C brands in Indonesia are catching the eye of VCs

In 2019, the startup had raised an investment of US$1.5 million from Roots Ventures in a pre-series A round.

Smytten’s revenue has grown 8x since then. “It also has a great product-market fit for large international markets like Southeast Asia and West Asia,” said Japan Vyas, managing partner at Roots Ventures.