Bengaluru D2C Founders Crack Scale Code At D2CX Converge

As India’s digital economy goes full throttle, throwing up a $1 Tn opportunity and adding thrust to its target of making up a fifth of the national GDP by 2030, direct-to-consumer brands find a way to unlock a $300 Bn headroom for growth by the same time. 

And, driving this growth will be a 500 Mn-strong shopper base, more than 800 Mn internet users, affordable data and supportive policies. With such a vibrant perspective playing behind India’s vision of emerging as the world’s third-largest economy, Inc42 partnered with Shadowfax for the Bengaluru chapter of D2CX Converge, a five-city founder meetup series to back the category builders. 

The mission is simple: bring together some of India’s most promising early stage D2C brands in an intimate, high-trust setting, where real, on-ground insights can be shared as the ecosystem enters its next phase of growth.

The gathering is designed for founders who are not just building in India’s high-potential D2C market, but also trying to learn from each other. After a strong start in Hyderabad, the series moved to Bengaluru, where early stage founders came together to exchange ideas and learn through hands-on sessions led by experienced operators.

On March 12, 2026, more than 65 curated D2C founders across categories such as fashion, FMCG, consumer retail, and lifestyle came together in the city. There was a clear shared intent: bring some of India’s most promising early stage operators into a space where momentum is tangible, ambition is high, and the ecosystem encourages founders to test ideas, refine their playbooks, and scale with confidence.

The evening featured sessions, which brought together diverse perspectives from across the D2C landscape, by the likes of:

• Aman Gupta, cofounder, boAt Lifestyle
• Manas Ranjan Hota, cofounder and CMO, DrinkPrime
• Swagat Sarangi, cofounder, Smytten
• Praharsh Chandra, cofounder and CBO, Shadowfax
• Himmath Jain, founder, AS-IT-IS Nutrition
• Shivam Dang, head of marketing and new initiatives, Shadowfax
• Siddharth Dungarwal, founder, Snitch
• Vikas Lachhwani, cofounder, mCaffeine

Playbook For Building A D2C Brand That Scales

The fireside chat between Praharsh Chandra, cofounder and CBO at Shadowfax, and Siddharth Dungarwal, founder and CEO of Snitch, centred on the brand’s omnichannel playbook and its ₹1,000 Cr revenue run, offering a grounded, real-world look at how D2C brands can move beyond early traction and build durable businesses at scale.

“With me, I had very few options. Business was spoken about almost every single day, and it was quite obvious that you had to join your dad’s business,” he said, recalling his early days at his father’s jewellery store before pivoting to apparel.

That shift, however, quickly evolved into a deeper understanding of the category. “Fashion is probably the easiest business to start, but the most difficult to scale. Your complexities go 100 times every year,” he noted.

A key theme in the discussion remained how early stage founders should think about channels. Dungarwal shared that Snitch’s initial decision to avoid marketplaces was based on data ownership and consumer understanding. 

“We wanted to know everything about the consumer, right from where they stay to what they buy. It is impossible to get that through marketplaces. We only entered marketplaces when there was demand. When people were searching for Snitch,” he said, doubling down on the fact that early dependence on external platforms does not help in building a brand. 

Talking about the omnichannel expansion, the Snitch cofounder said that it was not planned but it emerged from on-the-ground experimentation. “We took about two months to design the store. We didn’t call any large influencer or celebrity to open it. We simply messaged our consumers saying this was our first offline store. By four o’clock, we had to barricade the store. From there, we saw the store grow month-on-month at levels that are almost unheard of in the industry, and that gave us the confidence to double down,” he said, recalling the launch of the first Snitch outlet. 

In the final leg of the conversation, Dungarwala touched on capital and discipline as Snitch grew in scale before raising external funding. “We spent years building our distribution and supply chain engines, and only when we were very sure that capital was the one lever that could accelerate growth did we decide to raise external funding. Money for survival can actually kill you. But when you know you’ve built everything right, and that adding capital can grow the business 10 times, that’s when you go out and raise.” 

The session reinforced a broader takeaway for India’s D2C founders: omnichannel is not a starting point but an outcome, built on clarity of channel strategy, disciplined execution, and an uncompromising focus on the consumer.

Reaching The ₹100 Cr Milestone In D2C

The panel featuring Manas Ranjan Hota, cofounder and CMO, DrinkPrime; Swagat Sarangi, cofounder, Smytten; Himmath Jain, founder, AS-IT-IS Nutrition; and Vikas Lachhwani, cofounder, mCaffeine, moderated by Shivam Dang, head of marketing and new initiatives, Shadowfax, unpacked how brands scale to ₹100 Cr with discipline.

A key takeaway was that channel mix across D2C, marketplaces, and modern retail must evolve with stage and category. The discussion revolved around going deep before going wide, building a strong market presence before expanding. Retention emerged as the real growth engine, with repeat cohorts and LTV seen as more sustainable than pure acquisition-led growth. 

The panel also underlined the importance of balancing product, pricing, and inventory levels while keeping the burn in check. In a crowded market, differentiation comes from both emotional connection and operational strength. 

Taken together, the conversation concluded that chasing growth at all costs is more about disciplined execution. Brands that win are those that balance ambition with operational rigour while staying deeply in sync with their customers.

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