Startup Story of Bewakoof - Allowing the Youth to be Fashionably Silly

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When most of the fashion portals are talking about being all chic and classy, there is one that promotes being fashionably silly. Bewakoof is the fashion e-commerce startup that stands out from the rest. It offers a trendy collection of apparel based on dazzling and upbeat designs that resonate with the millennials. Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot launched Bewakoof in 2012.

This post provides you with information about Bewakoof's Startup Story, Tagline, Logo, Business Model, Funding, Revenue, Competitors, Growth and more.

Bewakoof - Company Highlights

  • Startup Name-Bewakoof
  • Headquarters-Mumbai, India
  • Sector-Fashion, E-commerce
  • Founders-Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot
  • Founded-2012
  • Parent Organization-Bewakoof Brands Pvt. Ltd.
  • Revenue-$28.33 mn (INR 210 crore in FY20)
  • Total Funding-$24.6 mn (2021)
  • Website-bewakoof.com

Bewakoof - Latest News

November 10, 2021 - India’s largest fashion D2C brand, Bewakoof has signed Sidharth Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh to promote the brand across its digital platforms. The Cool Student of the Year Sidharth and Dangal star Fatima will be seen in the Bewakoof collection in a digital campaign that has gone live. The theme of the campaign is Never Change.

Bewakoof Brand Campaign | Ft. Siddharth Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh

July 6, 2021 - Bewakoof names Sanya Malhotra, who will be the female brand ambassador of Bewakoof. Malhotra has already seen success in her acting career and stands as an inspiring figure to the millennials and other individuals of the country.

June 11, 2021 - Bewakoof’s first celebrity engagement: Rajkummar Rao comes on board to promote the Bewakoof brand across all digital platforms.

Bewakoof - About and How It Works

Founded in 2012, Bewakoof is a lifestyle fashion brand that makes creative and top-notch apparel for trendy, contemporary Indians. Bewakoof was launched on the principle of creating impact through innovation, honesty, and thoughtfulness. It has become one of the most sought-after fashion brands of this generation. The lifestyle brand has created a new niche in the fashion and apparel market with its innovative and interesting, ideas and captivating catalog.

Bewakoof is hands down amazing when it comes to creating light-hearted, fun, and quirky everyday outfits and other products (like mobile covers). Bewakoof quotes are some of the most intriguing things that the company offers along with its merchandise. Furthermore, the Bewakoof shirts and t shirts and other Bewakoof.com products are available at pocket-friendly prices. Moreover, its unique name is enough to turn heads.

Bewakoof.com, which sells apparel and mobile phone covers, is better known for creating head-turning catalogs like its ‘Ghanta’ collection of t-shirts for college students with messages like ‘Ghanta Engineering/Ghanta MBA’; the collection was a big hit and was tagged as 'best-seller' by the company. Bewakoof primarily caters to the age group of 16-34 years.

Bewakoof - Founders and Team

Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot are the founders of Bewakoof.

Prabhkiran Singh

Prabhkiran is a civil engineering graduate from IIT Bombay much like his co-founder, who interned at Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, after which he decided to found khadke gLASSI. Prabhkiran started his lassi venture outside his college and named it khadke gLASSI.  Unfortunately, it didn’t go that well and closed down soon. After his brief stint with the former, he went to found Bewakoof in April 2012.

Siddharth Munot

Siddharth Munot is the co-founder of Bewakoof. Munot is a Btech engineering from IIT Bombay, who started his career as a teacher at PACE Institute. Siddharth then started his entrepreneurial career by co-founding Munot Networks LLP before co-founding Bewakoof. Along with being a co-founder of Bewakoof Siddharth is also the co-founder of Machau Farms LLP and Machau Industries LLP.

Bewakoof Founder Siddharth Munot

Bewakoof currently has a team of over 400 members with over 2 million products sold to date. The team likes to experiment and go beyond the norms; this approach allows it to balance creativity and relatability to come up with innovative designs

Bewakoof - Startup Story | How was Bewakoof Started?

Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot, the founders of Bewakoof, were sitting outside their campus and brainstorming on possible ideas for their venture. The idea of t-shirt printing was finalized as it resonated with their mission of bringing the humor factor into the lives of college students.

Prabhkiran and Siddharth began researching the latest youth trends and lifestyles. They started designing quotes that would then be printed on t-shirts. And that’s how Bewakoof came into existence. Back in 2010 when Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot were searching for a domain name for their newly started t-shirt printing business, they came across Bewakoof.com and purchased it immediately.

It so happened that the month of April was about to start and April Fool’s day was around the corner. The name Bewakoof is humorous, witty, and sits well with the youth. Bewakoof and April Fool's day went hand in hand and the decision to purchase the domain name made complete sense. The website was launched in 2012, though. The target audience for Bewakoof.com was college students. The t-shirts with humorous designs depicted the various scenarios of a college goer's life.

Bewakoof - Name, Tagline, and Logo

Brand recall is at its highest with Bewakoof because of its cool and trendy name. The founders finalized this name because 'Bewakoof' (stupid in Hindi) is what the society considers people who perform silly stunts and 'out of the box' activities; actions that don't adhere to the society’s norms and methods.

Bewakoof Logo

These 'Bewakoof logs' make this world a better and wonderful place to live in. Hence, the founders thought that it would be a great name. The decision surely acted in their favor given the popularity Bewakoof.com has achieved today.

Bewakoof - Mission and Vision

Bewakoof is built with a mission and vision of "bringing accessibility and value to everyday fashion."

Bewakoof - Startup Launch and Marketing Strategies

Bewakoof primarily relied on Justdial and Facebook to market and promote its products in the initial stages. It worked so well for the brand that in just a few months, its Facebook page had more than 75 thousand users. Apart from the social media channels, the startup also created some dynamic college campaigns where it asked students to spread 'Beewakoofy' around the college campus in return for free tees from the company.

Moreover, the company also aggressively promoted its products by tying up with top e-commerce sites like Snapdeal, Indiatimes Shopping, and Seventymm to sell its appealing apparel range and other products.

The marketing team drove website traffic through two Facebook pages: “2 Min Aaya Yaar Raste Mei Hoon” and the company page “bewakoof.com”. These pages were well-received by the target audience. They kept the millennials occupied with memes and trolls which were also used to promote the apparel catalog on Bewakoof's website.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that the strength of the company lies in the appealing and trendy quotes printed on its range of t-shirts and various other products. The merchandise certainly seems to attract the viewer at the first glance. Bewakoof is also loaded with user-friendly plans like COD (cash on delivery) and replacement options. Customers are bound to have a great shopping experience with Bewakoof.com

Celebrity engagement with Rajkummar Rao

On June 11, 2021, Bewakoof’s first celebrity engagement: Rajkummar Rao comes on board to promote the Bewakoof brand across all digital platforms.

Brand Campaign with Sidharth Malhotra & Fatima Sana Shaikh

On November 10, 2021 - Bewakoof set its digital campaign live with the cool student of the year Sidharth Malhotra, and Dangal star Fatima Sana Shaikh. The theme of the campaign is Never Change.

The Campaign will feature 2 brand films where Sidharth’s Shershah Co-actor Sahil Vaid will also be seen. The ad films will reveal the ‘always fun side’ of the 3 actors who are seen cracking jokes at each other and showing their mischievous side. Bewakoof is introducing their new tagline, ‘Ho Bewakoof toh stay Bewakoof -- Never Change’. The idea stems from Bewakoof’s brand persona, which stands for expressing yourself freely without any inhibitions. Bewakoof is synonymous with not giving in to pressures and standing for hatke and being fearless.

Sidharth and Fatima imbibe this vibe as even after seeing highs and the lows of their profession, they followed their belief system and have won a billion hearts with their sheer hard work and never change, don’t give up attitude.

Prabhkiran Singh, Founder CEO, Bewakoof, says, “We are the market leaders in the fashion industry and have built our business without any godfathers. When we thought of rolling out our new campaign centered around Never Change, Sid and Fatima were our obvious choice because, as a brand, we identify with them. In our early days, we were ridiculed for our brand name, business model but we didn't change nor did we give up. As a brand, we see these disruptive qualities in both Sid and Fatima.”

Sidharth Malhotra, who is fresh from Shershah's success, is known for his layered acting which translates into strong storytelling. Sidharth represents the aspirations of the youth with a clear message that if you believe in something, follow your approach with grit and rigor, you will emerge a winner. On his association with Bewakoof, he says, “Bewakoof has uber-cool clothes which you can easily add to your wardrobe. It was a fun collaboration & friendly Masti vibe wearing their quirky outfits."

Fatima, who started her career with cameos, won well-deserved accolades for her work in Dangal. She has been unstoppable since then. Her work in multi-starrers like Ludo, Suraj pe Mangal Bhari and Ajeeb Dastans, prove that she can stand her own ground even among some of the most successful actors just like Bewakoof stands tall among other D2C brands in India. Commenting on her engagement with Bewakoof, Fatima says, “Bewakoof’s journey has been similar to mine. This got me interested in associating with the brand as I could identify with the expressions, language, and styling they promote. The comfort level with the brand and the products that I tried won me over.”

Bewakoof teamed with Sanya Malhotra

Bewakoof teams up with the brand ambassador of the brand, Sanya Malhotra to launch a new campaign in July 2021, which was titled "Bewakoof banti hai."

Bewakoof - Business Model and Revenue Model

Bewakoof's business model operates on a 360-degree view as it looks into everything from designing and merchandising to warehousing; the end-to-end production is taken care of in-house and brand marketing is done online. The Mumbai-based venture is a single-brand firm that produces and markets its products while targeting the youth, unlike other e-commerce portals that just market products manufactured by someone else.

Bewakoof tends to follow trends and implements them in its strategies. From printing famous punch lines on t-shirts to following viral posts on social media, Bewakoof has created a cool presence among the youth. It launches new designs based on the observation of trends in lifestyle and fashion. It also listens to its social media fan base of over 1.5 million people for ideas and concepts.

“In our play, we have high margins and a very high customer loyalty owing to our differentiated and unique products,” said Prabhkiran Singh, founder of Bewakoof.com.

Bewakoof - Growth and Revenue

Bewakoof has attained numerous growth milestones to date. Here are soe of the prominent ones:

It has recorded more than 2.5 million hits on the website on a monthly basis

  • Served more than 6 million customers to date
  • Adds more than 1 lakh customers per month
  • 2 million products sold till date
  • Has more than 3000 style trends
  • Ships to more than 90 countries
  • Ships merchandise to over 19,000 PIN codes across India
  • Has a total of 150,000 subscribers
  • More than 40.1 lakh Facebook followers
  • Over 8,700 active Twitter followers
  • More than 2.39 lakh Instagram followers
  • INR 1.5 crores worth of transactions per month
  • Recently launched a clothing category for women

Bewakoof announced the launch of Cosmos Beauty on July 13, 2021, and with this the popular clothes and merchandise brand stepped into the world of beauty and cosmetic products.

Bewakoof mentioned that it has derived the name of the new brand from "cosmic" because all of its products, their designs, packaging, and formulation are inspired by natural ingredients and minerals. As of July 13, 2021, Cosmos Beauty would kickstart its journey with 43 products in total from a wide range of categories, including day and night creams, serums, bath salts, and more.

Bewakoof registered a 27% growth in revenue from operations which increased to Rs 208.33 crore in FY20 from INR 164.22 crore it earned in FY19. Bewakoof’s annual consolidated losses for FY20 stood at INR 28.26 crore and EBITDA margins went from 3.56% in FY19 to -9.5% in FY20.

In the financial year that ended in 2019, Bewakoof Brands Private Limited's operating revenue range was noted to be between INR 100 crores and INR 500 crores. Its EBITDA had increased by 65.75 % over 2018 and net worth has also gone up by 7.39 %. The estimated annual revenue of Bewakoof was $15.1 million. Over the years, it has grown from being a t-shirt selling brand to over an INR 100 crores business.

Bewakoof - Competitors

Bewakoof faces direct competition from e-commerce portals such as:

  • Myntra
  • Snapdeal
  • Shein
  • Flipkart

These are some eCommerce platforms that also target fashion online to name a few. Peachmode.com, Globus, Chumbak, Seafolly, Jenny Bird, Infinity Motorcycles, and Buttercups also give stiff competition to Bewakoof.

Bewakoof - Funding and Investors

Bewakoof has raised a total of $24.6 million including the last, Pre-Series B round of $8.08 million, which the company raised with the help of Investcorp. The funds from the current round would be used in marketing, branding, talent acquisition, and technology.

Bewakoof - Future Plans

Bewakoof is eyeing to achieve sales of around Rs 2,000 crores in the next four years. The D2C brand has recently witnessed some celebrity collaboration where the company has roped in actors like Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, and Farhan Akhtar. It plans to continue roping in more A-list actors onboard to ramp up its advertising campaigns across a range of media platforms.

Bewakoof is aiming to increase its total subscribers, which is currently reported to be 150,000, to 1 million in the next 2 years. Furthermore, it is also looking to achieve sales worth Rs 2,000 crores in the next 4 years.

Bewakoof - FAQs

What is the tagline of Bewakoof?

"A Bewakoof follows his Heart", the tagline that connects a millennial with the mantra of being imaginative.

Who is the owner of Bewakoof.com?

Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot are the founders of Bewakoof.

What is Bewakoof?

It is a lifestyle fashion brand that makes creative and distinctive fashion apparel for the trendy, contemporary Indian.

Who is the CEO of Bewakoof?

Prabhkiran Singh serves as Bewakoof's CEO and Co-Founder.

When did Bewakoof start?

It was launched on 1 April 2012 by Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munot.

Where is Bewakoof located?

Bewakoof Brand Pvt. Ltd., is registered in Thane, Mumbai.

How much is Bewakoof's Networth?

Bewakoof is an INR 100 crores fashion apparel brand.

Who are the Top competitors of Bewakoof?

Myntra, Snapdeal, Shein, Flipkart, Peachmode.com, Globus, Chumbak, Seafolly, Jenny Bird, Infinity Motorcycles, and Buttercups are some of the top competitors of Bewakoof.

Is Bewakoof Indian Brand?

Yes. Bewakoof is headquartered in Mumbai, India