D2C footwear startup Yoho raises Rs 20 Cr in pre-Series A round

Direct to consumer footwear startup Yoho has secured Rs 20 crore in a Series A round of funding led by existing investors SoftBank Investment Advisers’ chief executive officer Rajeev Mishra, Rukam Capital, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and others.

The company plans to utilise funds to create capabilities for new product developments and achieve sustainable manufacturing standards, according to Yoho’s press statement.

Founded in 2021, Yoho leverages technology and artificial intelligence to create high-performance footwear. The one and half year-old company manufactures affordable orthopaedic lightweight footwear which is suitable to Indian consumers.

Yoho claims to have patented designs with some leading universities in footwear and has sold more than 1,00,000 pairs. The company created almost 700 prototypes before settling for the right product line.

Currently, the footwear space in India is largely dominated by unorganized manufacturers which make around 75% of total production. Multinational brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma are the largest players in this space. 

The investment in D2C footwear brands saw an uptick in the past few months. Several startups such as Plaeto, Neeman’s, Flatheads, and Nirmalaya mopped up fresh capital. Neeman’s has emerged as the posterboy which scaled up to Rs 50 crore in revenue in FY21.