D2C Insider, one of India’s leading D2C founders communities with over 25,000+ members across the country, is set to launch ConsumerX Ventures – its Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), according to sources aware of the development.
Over the years, D2C Insider has built one of the strongest consumer startup ecosystems in India, bringing together 20,000+ brands, 7,500+ enabler-founders, and more than 2,500+ investors across the direct-to-consumer India landscape. With ConsumerX Ventures, the community now plans to deepen its role in backing and scaling the next wave of D2C brands India and consumer startups.
The community-led fund is targeting a ₹150 crore corpus and plans to back 25 early-stage D2C brands and enablers at the pre-seed and seed stages. Sources indicate that ConsumerX Ventures is already in advanced talks with a large consumer group expected to come onboard as an anchor investor.
The fund aims to take 10-15% ownership in portfolio companies while reserving nearly 40% of the corpus for follow-on capital to support breakout winners. ConsumerX Ventures recently received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its CAT II AIF and is expected to soon launch investor roadshows. The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) also recently welcomed ConsumerX as its newest member.
ConsumerX Ventures plans to write average cheques of ₹3-5 crore, helping startups scale toward ₹100 crore revenue milestones, profitability, and Series A readiness within an 18-month horizon. The investment thesis is built around major D2C market trends 2025, including rising Gen Z and millennial consumption, quick commerce growth, ecommerce expansion, and the increasing ‘Bharat’ consumer opportunity.
Abhishek Shah, Chief Evangelist of D2C Insider, will lead the fund as Managing Partner, while Chhavi Bhardwaj Kargaonkar, currently managing the D2C Insider Super Angels Fund, will join as Partner at ConsumerX Ventures.
Since beginning as a community on a social networking platform in 2019, D2C Insider has grown into one of India’s most influential D2C business India networks. Founding members include V3 Ventures’ Arjun Vaidya, boAt’s Aman Gupta, Mamaearth’s Ghazal Alagh, Assembly’s Aditya Khanna, The Man Company’s Hitesh Dhingra, WOW Skin Science’s Manish Chowdhary, mCaffeine’s Tarun Sharma, and The MomsCo’s Mohit Sadaani.
According to the D2C Insider website, nearly 60% of D2C brands pitching on Shark Tank India are already part of its community.
D2C Insider is also actively deploying its Category I AIF Super Angel Fund with a ₹25 crore corpus backed by 70+ operator LPs. The community has already invested in 16 startups including Basil, Pikndel, Samosa Party, Crest, Assembly, Futwork, The Solved Skin, Business On Bot, Snackible, Divine Hindu, Goat Life, Steam Pro, Dobra, Gubbachhi, Zoomies, and Filli & Me.
As India’s D2C industry news cycle accelerates, ConsumerX Ventures is positioning itself at the center of the next wave of founder-led, digitally native consumer brands shaping India’s future.
