PEAKLIFE

MONEY MATTERS

SCALING UP
A close look at how Bombay Shaving Company, one of India's most
sought after grooming brands, became an enabler for people across the
world to put their Best Look Forward. An inspiring journey filled with
enterprise, commitment to values and big bets at the right time.
By Deepak Gupta

I
n 2015-16, founded by Shantanu
Deshpande, Bombay Shaving
Company disrupted the Indian men's
grooming category by introducing an
experiential dimension to it. With the
launch of its first product—a single blade,
precision safety razor designed to enhance
the rather mundane shaving experience for
men—this then little-known D2C brand
made its intention clear: to reimagine
grooming in India and provide stiff
competition to other mainstream brands.
This was also a time of immense change in
the socio-cultural landscape. A blossoming
social media and digital landscape gave rise
to a young, experimental, always-ready-to-
express consumer. Bombay Shaving
Company saw a large market with potential
and moved swiftly to serve it.
BUILDING A CATEGORY
With a holistic category view, BSC
started introducing regimens to
complement its standalone products.
Making steady strides thereafter by going
beyond just shaving into hair, skin, bath,
and other adjacent categories. With the
support of data driven insights and
sophisticated digital media targeting, BSC
continued to augment its products with
better formulations, ingredients and design,
taking them to relevant segments with
speed. The urban Indian lapped up the
offering, and Bombay Shaving Company
was a click away to deliver.
THE RIGHT PARTNERSHIPS
By 2018-19, the online grooming space
began to mature, giving rise to numerous
clones and brand obfuscation. This is when
Bombay Shaving Company made the bold
move to bring in competitors Colgate-

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Palmolive and Reckitt Benckiser on board as
strategic investors for their offline network
and distribution might. Till today, BSC
remains one of the only companies in the
world to have two FMCG behemoths on their
cap table. On the backbone of this alliance,
and with one of the strongest startup sales
teams in India, BSC grew its retail presence
to 20,000 stores, with upwards of 10% share
in each; transforming from a predominantly
product-focused D2C and e-commerce brand
into an experience-driven omni-channel
brand. The transformation was complete
when Lakmé invited Bombay Shaving
Company to be the preferred partner in their
300+ chain of salons across India; a
significant landmark for brand, which then
was only four years old.
PIVOTING AT THE OPTIMUM TIME
Through the pandemic period in 2020-21,
leaning now on its D2C channel as an
insights platform, BSC became a true enabler
for people in difficult times. They
understood changing needs better than
most; introducing innovative DIY solutions,
fortified products with nourishing
ingredients, and even launching another
personal hygiene brand. All these moves
ensured BSC got closer to people, more than
ever before. This was also the time when
Bombay Shaving Company introduced BSC
Women – a brand that understands the
nuanced personal grooming needs of
women. Growth skyrocketed to 5X in this
period, and subsequently so did the size and
stature of the company, which today employs
over 200 people. Bang in the middle of
double-digit growth in 2021 is when the
leadership at BSC made its biggest bet yet,
with a long term perspective; deciding to
refocus its core business around hair
removal and hair management solutions for
both men and women, with a goal of
capturing a sizeable chunk of the INR 70,000
crore+ addressable market in India. This
decision has instantly made BSC a highly
valued IPO-able Company, lucrative to
investors across the board. In its latest Series
C round, the company has raised INR 210 Cr,
and is in advanced talks to raise another INR
300Cr.
MOTIVATION AND WEALTH
CREATION
BSC has uniquely capitalised attracting
"IN ITS LATEST SERIES
C ROUND, BOMBAY
SHAVING COMPANY
HAS RAISED INR 210
CR, AND IS IN
ADVANCED TALKS TO
RAISE ANOTHER INR
300 CR."
investments from 30 angels, Fireside
Ventures, Colgate-Palmolive, Sixth Sense,
Reckitt, and now Malabar, Patni, and
Singularity AMC, in addition to HNIs. But a
strong differentiator for the brand has been
its emphasis on employee ownership.
Friendly ESOP schemes and structures have
ensured that top talent recruited to drive the
company forward grow with it; and are
rewarded commensurately. Just recently
BSC provided returns upwards of INR 45 Cr
for employees and early investors.
PEOPLE CENTRIC CULTURE AND
POLICIES
What distinguishes BSC from most is its
truly authentic people culture. The vision for
people is as clear as that for the business.
The endeavor at Bombay Shaving Company
is to build an 'institution that outlasts us all'.
Not a startup or company, not a unicorn, not
even a brand. Just like the foundations of any
home, people (more like family members)
are handpicked keeping this internal vision
in mind, to attract, develop, and retain top-
notch talent and to create exceptional value
for them. From pursuing a 50:50 (Female:
Male) balanced workforce, to providing skill
development opportunities, even going that
extra mile to provide unconditional support
for employees and their families during
challenging times like the pandemic, BSC
leaves no stone unturned for those who
have their feet on the ground and eyes on
the stars.
SMART INVESTMENTS IN THE
FUTURE
Leading the grooming category into the
future, Bombay Shaving Company intends
to double down on getting closer to the
consumer, expanding retail presence from
20,000 to 50,000 stores, targeting 15%
share in these stores, in addition to
launching exclusive brand outlets in major
metros. The focus will also be on building
both the men’s and women’s brand, which
already enjoys good salience with Indian
Cricket legend R. Ashwin and Bollywood
sensation Alaya F as brand ambassadors.
BSC has always been well-received by the
Indian diaspora overseas and the Asian
Subcontinent; and now plans to expand
operations to the USA, Europe, South Africa,
Australia and New Zealand as well. In the
next two years, overseas markets are
expected to contribute anywhere between
10-15% to company revenues.
It is clear that Bombay Shaving Company
has flapped its wings and risen, but now it is
poised to soar and touch the INR 1000 crore
revenue mark.
About the Author
Deepak Gupta is the Chief
Operating Officer at Bombay
Shaving Company, leading the
vision of taking the brand to
'2 crore bathrooms in India,
with 5 products, creating
10 minutes of happiness
everyday'. Prior to this, he led
regional markets for Colgate,
one of the most penetrated
brands in the country, with
3.5 billion+ daily active users.
In his two year stint as COO
of BSC, through the most
challenging phase of the
pandemic, the company grew
by 6X, clocking a revenue run
rate of INR 200 crore, with
over 1.5 million shipments per
quarter.