Ninety One raises ₹225 cr in Series A funding round; Value ₹1,000 crore

A91 Partners LLP made its impact in this round 160 crore, with other participating investors including Fireside Ventures, Avana Capital and Title Capital 65 crores in the company.

With this funding round, Ninety One operated by Alphavector (India) Pvt. Ltd. is now worth 1,000 crore (or about $132 million).

According to the company, it will use the proceeds from the current funding round to invest in manufacturing facilities in Gujarat and build out its electric bicycle portfolio. The brand is also looking to expand into global markets.

As part of the round, VT Bhardwaj of A91 Partners, Vinay Singh of Fireside Ventures and Sandeep Singhal of Avana Capital will join the startup’s board of directors.

Six years old, Ninety One is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) cycling brand that manufactures and sells bicycles for enthusiasts looking for adventure sports and urban mobility needs. Currently, the brand follows an omnichannel retail play, and has an offline dealer presence through the 91CARES programme.

“At Ninety-five, our focus has always been on disrupting the bicycle and electric bicycle category through engineering-led product innovation and a deep brand association with our consumers. Ninety Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sachin Chopra The current funding round will help us drive growth manifold as we use capital to deepen our supply chain, strengthen our distribution channels and build our brand story.

Currently, the startup is selling over 20,000 cycles per month and has a presence of 1,000 retail points in over 500 cities and one million monthly unique visitors on its online platform.

“We are excited to support Ninety One as a leading new-age Indian active lifestyle brand that can deliver world-class products to truly global consumers. VT Bhardwaj, General Partner, A91 Partners LLC said, “Ninety One has forayed into bicycles and electric cycles and has emerged as a strong brand backed by solid manufacturing capabilities.”

Ninety-nine has seen a five-fold increase in its monthly revenue, it said.

The brand claims that more than 80% of its sales currently come from the men’s category. However, through research and engineering efforts, the brand wants to strengthen its game in the children’s and women’s category. It expects these categories to contribute 50% of its sales over the next two years.