When their seven-month-old daughter began crawling, Riya and Aman Sharma found themselves frantically scanning the labels on every product in their home — from baby lotion to teething toys.
“It was 2 am, and I was googling the ingredients of the baby lotion,” says Aman. “Our daughter had just started putting everything in her mouth, and I realised we had no idea what we were exposing her to,” adds the first-time father.
Like the Sharmas, a growing number of young parents are looking for sustainable and non-toxic babycare products, and startups are tapping into this demand. Meghana Narayan, co-founder of Wholsum Foods (parent company of Slurrp Farm & Mille), says the brand emerged from a gap in the market: “We couldn’t find clean-label, whole-grain foods in formats that were easy to make for kids. That’s where our journey started.”
The country’s ‘mom and babycare’ sector has raised $917 million since 2000, according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn. Funding peaked in 2019 at $432 million across 24 rounds. In 2023 the sector raised around $48.6 million, while in 2024 it secured $13.3 million funding.
The babycare and childcare products market in India was valued at about $36 billion in 2023 and projected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent to reach $68 billion by 2028. “The babycare industry in India is growing at an impressive rate, driven by rising disposable incomes, increased awareness of baby health, and the growing e-commerce penetration,” says Tejal Bajla, co-founder of All Things Baby.
Business model
Changing lifestyles and the growing number of nuclear families have sparked a big demand for convenient and innovative childcare solutions. Parents are prioritising premium, eco-friendly products, and startups are leveraging e-commerce to improve accessibility, says Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn.
All Things Baby, founded in 2016, leverages online marketplaces, retail outlets, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) web stores to sell over 8,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) catering to the 0-4 age group.
As Bajla explains, “What sets us apart is our curated portfolio of premium, global brands, our emphasis on safety and sustainability, and our personalised customer experience through expert consultations and content-driven community engagement.”
Similarly, Baby & Mom Retail, which caters to the babycare, pet care, skincare, and bedding solutions segments, clocks nearly 70 per cent of its revenue through e-commerce, 25 per cent through modern trade and retail stores, and the rest from traditional trade and business-to-business (B2B) channels. The company wants to widen its retail reach. Founder Shish Kharesiya says, “We aim to strengthen online sales while expanding modern trade and B2B partnerships to balance our channel mix and cater to evolving customer preferences.”
Scaling up
Slurrp Farm, which Narayan and Shauravi Malik co-founded in 2016, specialises in millet-based food for children.
The company has grown 80-100 per cent annually over the last three years and expects to grow 50-60 per cent this year. It has raised $17 million in funding to date, with plans for another funding round in 2025.
Online sales account for 75 per cent of its revenue, while the brand also has a retail presence in eight cities, Narayan says.
All Things Baby aims to close FY24 with $7 million revenue; it next plans to expand its retail footprint, increase private-label offerings, and tap into tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
Over the next 2–3 years, Bajla anticipates significant growth from a widened customer base. “Establishing our private label is also a key component of our five-year growth strategy,” he says.
Meanwhile, Baby & Mom Retail has crossed ₹100 crore annual revenue and projects more growth by strengthening online sales and increasing the number of modern trade and B2B partnerships. “Our focus is on catering to evolving customer needs by balancing convenience, accessibility, and premium quality,” says Kharesiya.
The company is also exploring avenues in quick commerce and speciality stores for faster delivery. “Quick-commerce platforms will play a significant role in driving accessibility, especially for essential babycare products,”Kharesiya says.
Challenges and funding
The apparel sub-sector within babycare is emerging as a significant area for investments. As Tracxn’s Singh explains, “D2C kidswear brands have attracted the highest investment in this space, totalling $28 million, followed by online baby product retailers and pregnancy monitoring wearables.”
Hopscotch raised $20 million in a Series D round in May 2024, while Ed-a-Mamma, later acquired by Reliance Retail, secured $4.9 million in a seed round in February 2023, she says, highlighting the notable funding rounds in this segment.
Concurring with this view, Bajla says All Things Baby plans to focus on apparel as a category.
Alongside the many opportunities for growth, the babycare sector also poses several unique challenges for startups, including taking on the established brands.
As Singh observes, “Market saturation with similar products makes differentiation difficult, with safety regulations adding complexity and cost.” Distribution challenges and limited marketing budgets further hinder the ability of startups to gain visibility vis-a-vis dominant brands.
Additional challenges for the new entrants include high customer expectations of safety and quality, coupled with price sensitivity. However, Singh points out that innovations in organic baby products, kids’ apparel, and tech-enabled parenting tools continue to attract niche interest.
“India’s position as one of the top three funded countries in this space underscores its growth potential,” she concludes.