Sneaker brand Comet raises $10.2M Series B, a third below its target
What's the deal? Comet, a Bengaluru sneaker brand, is raising ₹98.75 crore ($10.2 million) in a Series B round led by Belgian investment firm VerlinvestDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, according to a regulatory filing reported by Entrackr. The round values Comet at roughly ₹535 crore ($56 million), a 3.2 times step-up from its July 2024 Series A.
Who's in? Verlinvest is putting in ₹61.73 crore. Existing backers Elevation CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Nexus Ventures are each adding ₹17.90 crore, while Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Bhaane RetailDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Ajit MohanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → contribute smaller cheques. The money is earmarked for working capital, capital expenditure, and general corporate purposes.
The gap: The round lands about a third below target. In March, Moneycontrol reported Comet in talks to raise ₹140-150 crore; six months later, the filing came in at ₹98.75 crore. A step-up is still a step-up, but the shortfall points to a tougher market than the multiple alone suggests.
What does Comet do? Founded in 2023 by Utkarsh Gupta and Dishant Daryani, the brand sells India-designed sneakers and slides on a proprietary sole with a wider toe box. At around ₹4,299, it sits between sub-₹2,000 local footwear and ₹10,000-plus global brands, selling via its own site, Myntra, and multi-brand stockists.
The numbers: In FY25, Comet's revenue rose almost four times to ₹29 crore, with a loss of ₹4.39 crore. A loss equal to about 15% of sales at that growth rate is restrained by Indian direct-to-consumer standards, where fourfold jumps usually come with heavy marketing spend. FY26 accounts have not been filed.
Why Verlinvest matters: The evergreen firm, backed by the founding families of Anheuser-Busch InBevDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, has no clock on its capital. India is about a fifth of its global assets, and it has backed 25 Indian consumer brands over 15 years, including SulaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Epigamia, and Blue Tokai. Its arrival at a three-year-old shoe company is a vote on the category.
The signal: Patient, category-focused capital is still flowing into Indian consumer brands that show discipline over marketing-fuelled growth. But Comet's resized round is a reminder that even a solid step-up can mask cooler demand than founders set out to find.
Read more: startupfox.in
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
