New Delhi: Cava Athleisure has raised Rs 40 crore in a Series A funding round led by Sharrp Ventures, which invested Rs 21 crore, with participation from V3 Ventures and existing investor Spring Marketing Capital. Post the fundraise, the brand is valued at Rs 215 crore, Ria Mittal and Shreya Mittal, co-founders, Cava Athleisure, told ETRetail.
The brand will be using these funds to accelerate offline expansion, product diversification, and leadership depth.
“This round is really about preparing the business for scale i.e., offline expansion, team building, and unlocking newer subcategories, while staying capital-efficient,” co-founders said.
After this round, about 65-70 per cent of the business is still with the co-founders.
Currently, 65 per cent of brand’s revenue comes from its D2C website, while around 30 per cent is driven by marketplaces, led largely by Myntra. The remaining 5 per cent comes from quick commerce and B2B channels, including platforms like Zepto.
“Our blended CAC on D2C is around Rs 800. First-time acquisition CAC is closer to Rs 1,100, but with an AOV of Rs 2,300, we recover CAC within the first purchase itself. Our repeat customer rate stands at 40-45 per cent,” they asserted.
The brand is set to launch its first physical store next month at Orion Mall, Bengaluru. The store will span 1,200 sq.ft of carpet area, with a CAPEX of approximately Rs 40 lakh.
“This calendar year is about getting four to five stores right, primarily within Bengaluru, and then double down further in the next year,” they said.
Stores are expected to break even within 18-24 months.
“We’re also building our own in-house manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. At full scale, it will produce about 30,000-35,000 units per month,” they stated.
At present, the brand operates with around 100 unique SKUs, and plans to introduce nearly 200 new styles this year.
While Cava remains women’s-wear dominant, contributing 95 per cent of revenues, its men’s category, which was launched six to eight months ago, is beginning to gain traction.
“Men’s currently contributes about 5 per cent of sales. By the end of next fiscal year, we want that to be at least 20–25 per cent of the business,” they said.
The brand, which closed the previous financial year with Rs 8 crore in revenue, is eyeing Rs 40 crore by this fiscal year’s end and Rs 130 crore by the next fiscal year’s end.
“We are already operating at 2-5 per cent EBITDA profitability over recent months and have clear margin ambitions ahead. As we approach a Rs 10-15 crore MRR, our goal is to reach around 15 per cent EBITDA margins, ideally by next year,” they added.
Cava had earlier raised Rs 10 crore in June 2024, led by Spring Marketing Capital, with participation from angel investors including the Manyavar and Groww founders.
