Innovist raises $3.5M pre-Series A led by Accel, 72 Ventures

Innovist (earlier known as Onesto Labs), the parent of Gurgaon-based D2C hair brand Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play (ceramide-based skincare brand), and SunScoop (a sunscreen-only brand), has raised $3.5 million.

The pre-Series A round was led by existing investors Accel Partners and 72 Ventures.

Other prevailing investors Sauce (Manu Chandra) and Arihant Patni (Patni Family Office). New investors are Jani Ventures, Nihir Parikh, Rashmi Kwatra (Sixteen Street Capital), Kunal Shah (Cred), Alok Mittal, and Shripad Nadkarni (Maverix Platforms & Fingerlix).

Innovist will use the capital to further strengthen its R&D capabilities, marketing, hiring, and distribution channels.

“Innovist is a brand entirely driven by science and safe, clean ingredients and is anchored on transparency. Both as an investor and a power user, I love the efficacy and personalisation of the skin and hair care products they offer. From a business standpoint, a vertical house of brands enables us to extract the best possible value from demand and supply by innovating high-quality products while managing cost and operational efficiencies,” said Radhika Ananth, VP, Accel Partners.

Founded in 2018 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana, and Vimal Bhola, Innovist is on a mission to revolutionise the personal care and beauty industry with products that are science-first in approach.

Innovist’s brands Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, and SunScoop sell beauty and personal care products designed with ingredients that have proven efficacy and are backed by scientific research.

These products are sold on its website, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Nykaa, and modern retail stores across India.

Innovist recently received a significant investment in its nutraceuticals brand Nudge from Nykaa. Onesto Labs was also part of Accel’s Atoms first cohort, launched last year to support early-stage startups.

Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash