The homegrown unicorn is beefing up its portfolio by aggregating a colony of D2C digital brands, but with global leader Thrasio entering India, can the startup get ahead of competition?
Nitin Agarwal, CEO, GlobalBees
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Prabhav Sharda remembers his emotional outburst last year. “Look, don’t waste my time,” he said to the caller, miffed. “Meet me only if you have a proper offer.” It was sometime in August. The Kolkata-based entrepreneur was being feverishly wooed by a bunch of buyers to sell Absorbia, India’s first moisture absorber brand, which had a modest beginning in 2009 when Sharda launched it after working as a brand consultant in Singapore for over a year.
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The inspiration to start the unique venture came from dry cleaning, or rather, running away from it during his college days in Singapore. “Dry cleaning of suits used to cost $40-50. Damn expensive,” he recounts. As a student looking to save every penny in a foreign country, the hack was simple: Buy moisture-absorbing boxes that cost just $2!
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