India's new consumer brands are reaching the coveted ₹100-crore revenue milestone faster than earlier as quick commerce reshapes how products are discovered, purchased and scaled.
Direct-to-consumer brands such as Beyond Appliances, Underneat, SuperYou, and Palmonas are among a new crop of startups that have reached the milestone in as early as 15 months, according to industry executives and experts.
This marks a shift from earlier generations of brands, which often took two to four years to achieve a similar scale. Meat and seafood retailer Licious, for instance, took about four years to cross the ₹100 crore revenue mark in FY20.
“Building a ₹100 crore brand is much easier today than it was five years ago. There are brands that are only 12 to 18 months old and have already crossed ₹100 crore in annual revenue," Vineet Satija, partner and head of investment banking at PwC India, told Mint. “Some have even reached ₹200 crore within two or three years. The time required to reach these milestones has reduced significantly.”
Industry attributes current acceleration to the rise of quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart, alongside creator-led marketing, and a more mature startup ecosystem.
Quick-commerce platforms, initially built around grocery delivery, have rapidly expanded into categories such as beauty, nutrition, electronics and lifestyle products, becoming an increasingly important distribution channel for brands.
The channel is also driving growth for established consumer companies, with some categories reportedly expanding 60-80% through quick commerce, Satija said.
According to a May report by The Economic Times, the channel accounted for 60-75% of online sales for companies including ITC, AWL Agri Business, Tata Consumer Products and Parle Products in FY26, up sharply from less than half a year earlier.
Q-commerce and creator economy
“Social media and creator collaborations have become powerful tools, giving brands top-of-funnel reach at a lower cost while targeting the right consumer cohorts,” said Adarsh Menon, partner at Fireside Ventures.
Plug-and-play technology stacks such as Shopify, Razorpay, Shiprocket and Delhivery, combined with UPI, have simplified payments and distribution.
Manufacturing has also become more accessible, with startups increasingly outsourcing production, packaging and formulation to specialist partners, he added.
“Earlier, the best companies would get there in around 24 months,” Piyush Kharbanda, general partner at Vertex Ventures, said. Today, that may have come down to roughly 15-18 months, he added.
Consumer behaviour has also changed, Kharbanda said, with the convenience of rapid delivery helping with repeat purchases and early adoption.
“Ten years ago, many brands were built on Amazon. Today, many are being built through quick commerce platforms,” Satija said.
Satija cited one food brand that took roughly two years to reach its first ₹100 crore in revenue, another year to cross ₹200 crore, and less than a year to exceed ₹300 crore.
Beyond Appliances, a venture-backed kitchen appliances startup, said it crossed the ₹100 crore in revenuein FY26 but did not share the details.
“This was our first complete financial year, and we were encouraged by the response from consumers to a new-age appliance brand,” said Iti Dubey, senior vice-president for brand and marketing at Beyond Appliances.
However, the company said sustaining growth requires more than digital channels, as consumers in the category often prefer to experience products before purchasing. It is now expanding its offline footprint to 10–15 cities. Beyond Appliances is a loss-making company, according to media reports.
Queries emailed to Palmonas, Underneat, and SuperYou did not elicit a response till press time.
According to news reports on their FY25 earnings, jewellery brand Palmonas is a profitable company, while health and wellness brand SuperYou, and shapewear company Underneat are loss-making.
Crowded shelves, tighter economics
While quick commerce has emerged as a powerful growth engine, experts said listing on these platforms is turning difficult amid intense competition.
“Companies that secured listings two or three years ago benefited from entering early, but today the process is much tougher. If someone launches a new brand now, up to a year simply trying to get listed because a long queue of brands is ahead of them," said Satija.
The economics can also be demanding. Quick-commerce platforms typically charge commissions of 30-35%, compared with roughly 25% in modern trade and 18-22% in traditional distribution channels. "They receive a constant stream of listing requests from brands and have significant bargaining power,” he added.
“Quick commerce should also be viewed only as a distribution channel. It is not a substitute for brand building. You cannot build a lasting brand purely through quick commerce,” said Kharbanda.
Profit challenges
While revenue milestones are being reached faster, some brands continue to burn cash, Satija said. "The economics depend heavily on category dynamics and gross margins,” he added.
However, Kharbanda said investors, especially in the early stages, focus on market share with sustained unit economics than profitability.
“We evaluate whether the business has fundamentally strong gross margins, whether it is overly dependent on performance marketing, whether customer reviews and ratings indicate genuine product-market fit, and whether consumers genuinely love the brand,” said Kharbanda.
If those fundamentals exist, execution and continued product development can eventually lead to profitability, he added.
“There has been a mindset shift in the current generation of brands, and unit economics is now a primary focus area at par with scaling,” Menon said, adding that a better understanding of the D2C playbook is helping startups grow faster.
