21 February 2023, Mumbai
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail has bought Bewakoof. The acquisition was done through a subsidiary, Aditya Birla Digital Fashion Ventures. Bewakoof has now become a step-down subsidiary of the company.
Bewakoof is an apparel and accessories brand. Bewakoof, founded in 2012, one of the first D2C brands in the country and operates in the western-style clothing segment. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail sells clothes and accessories from Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, among others. The acquisition is part of Aditya Birla’s strategy to build a portfolio of new-age, digital brands across categories in fashion, beauty and lifestyle segments.
Aditya Birla plans to enable multiple founders to operate within a synergistic platform that will have shared capabilities and make eight to ten investments in early-stage digital first brands by the end of this financial year with the initial focus being on broad categories of fashion. Traditional companies have the wherewithal to acquire new D2C brands to compensate for their late entry in the online space, a channel that now accounts for 30 per cent to 50 per cent for several brands.
Although there has been a drop in late-stage funding, Indian startups are seeing an uprise in large corporates looking at acquiring established brands with great products and strong customer loyalty.
