Peepul Capital plans Rs 70 cr investment in Brandis

PE investor Peepul Capital LLC will invest Rs 70 crores

in one-year-old lingerie and sportswear start-up Brandis Manufacturing and Marketing. Bangalore-based Brandis, which will receive the funds in multiple tranches, will use the capital to expand its operations, establish production facilities and build the brand. The firm sells lingerie and men sportswear brands Beyouty and 2GO. The start-up competes with bigger brands like Amante, Jockey, Triumph and Enamor in India.

The highly fragmented Indian lingerie market is said to be worth Rs 7,800 crores and is growing at 12 per cent per annum. Indian consumers also buy Rs 3,000 crores worth of active wear, or attire worn for sports, exercise and outdoor activities, every year and this segment is growing at 22 per cent.

This is the first growth capital investment in the apparel space for Peepul Capital and according to Venkat Shankar, Investment Director at Peepul Capital, which manages a corpus of about $700 million (Rs 3,820 crores), the space is still very fragmented and there is tremendous opportunity for a player that is able to present the right product-pricing-imagery matrix to the consumer. Peepul’s portfolio of companies include domestic cookie brand Unibic India, radiology equipment firm Cura Healthcare and power back-up solutions provider Consul Consolidated.