The Indian fashion industry is notoriously cutthroat. It's a competitive landscape of international entities like Zara and H&M competing with thousands of local brands all vying for the attention of the fashion-conscious yet price-sensitive Indian consumer.

However, within just a few years, one brand appears to have "snitched" the playbook and flipped it on its head.

That brand is called Snitch.

Founded by Siddharth R Dungarwal, Snitch emerged as a B2B player and in a short span of time entered the D2C space to now comfortably make hundreds of crores in revenue. Snitch's story encapsulates all the elements of agility, trend-spotting and engaging the new start-up ecosystem, here's how.

From Crisis Comes Opportunity: The 2020 Pivot

The Snitch narrative doesn't start with some lofty direct-to-consumer vision. It starts with a problem. Siddharth Dungarwal had a business, a B2B apparel manufacturing one, making clothes for retailers.

And then Covid hit. Business came to a halt in 2020. The retail stores are shut down, orders were canceled, and there was Siddharth sitting on a mountain of unsold clothes.

Facing a potential disaster, he decided to make a big change. Instead of waiting for the opportunity to sell to the B2B market again, he decided to sell directly to consumers- using his inventory. So, in July 2020, he launched snitch.co.in with a small team and a modest range of products.

This was not simply a way to make it through; this pivot would birth a new d2c titan. They discovered a large and completely underserved opportunity in the market: fast fashion for men. There were countless options for trendy, affordable, and high-quality women's wear. For men? Much fewer choices. Snitch jumped into this void.

The "Fast Fashion" Engine: Speed, Data, and D2C

Snitch didn't just build a clothing brand; it built a fast-fashion engine. Its success is built on three core pillars:

Unrivaled Speed: The name of the brand, "Snitch," refers to its ability to 'snitch' trends from global runways and social media feeds and make them into wearable products incredibly fast. While established brands are planning out collections months in advance, Snitch is able to create entire styles in less than 30 days. This ability means they can ride the crest of a micro-trend (think co-ord sets or kitsch prints), before it even becomes a trend.

A D2C-First Model: As a primarily Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brand, Snitch owns its customer relationship. They have a significant advantage: data. They can see what customers are viewing, adding to carts, and buying out. Snitch's ability to tap into that data is a feedback loop that informs their design process, and removes the guesswork from fashion.

Master of Marketing: Snitch thrives on their Instagram. They perfected the concept of influencer marketing and produced visually captivating content for their intended demographic of millennial and Gen Z men. They did not simply sell clothing — but a lifestyle.

The Shark Tank Tsunami: From Bootstrapped to Belief

During the early years of Snitch's existence, its growth was 100% bootstrapped and profitable through organic revenues. Yet, the true inflection point, in Snitch's public journey, was securing the Shark Tank India vital shark exposure on Season 2 of Shark Tank India in 2023.

Siddharth Dungarwal had a compelling pitch in top three strongest pitches of the season. He walked in with well-balanced data - monthly revenue of INR crores, profitable and ... bootstrapped. His clarity, command of the data and aspirational vision hooked the interest of all the sharks.

The total deal was an all shark record efficacy at 1 million INR 1.5 crores.

The funds were secondary to the big win. The immediate visibility outcome for the brand from the "Shark Tank effect" was massive. The brand had instant household national recognition... unbounded ample traffic on their site... and flywheel market activity to facilitate sales to explode overnight. Lastly and most importantly, the "inflection" outcome was validation from five of the country's top investors.

Beyond the Tank: Leveraging Startup Funding in India

The Shark Tank deal wasn't the conclusion; it marked the beginning of a new chapter of growth for Snitch. It showed that the brand was confidently ready for the next chapter and signified a strong lesson for the startup funding India ecosystem. Snitch did not go to Shark Tank to look for funding to figure out its business model, it had established success and was looking to acquire strategic capital.

After its Shark Tank episode, Snitch raised 110 crore in Series A funding with co-leadership from SWC Global and IvyCap Ventures. The funding was not to save the business but to dominate the market, and Snitch is deploying this higher high-risk capital to:

Overall Expansion Offline, expand Snitch very aggressively to have physical retail stores around India and the world.

Invest in Technology, strengthen their supply chain effectiveness and management reporting winnings (i.e. data analytics).

Build Brand, massively strengthen marketing direction and acquire talent.

Having pivoted from crisis nature in 2020, to forecast a revenue of 600 crore in the year ended FY25, Snitch trajectory is phenomenal. It is a powerful story, and represents a determined and resilient founder, their knowledge of the customer value and smart use of capital to build a long-time organization.

Your Big Idea Needs a Strategic Partner

The success of Snitch’s story exemplifies how even the most established industries can be disrupted through exceptional execution and strategic capital deployment, in conjunction with a truly great idea; that's the overarching value of entrepreneurialism.

It may well be that you have the next revolutionary idea; however, in today’s market, an idea alone will not suffice. You need the tools, the networks, and the hands-on backing to turn your vision into a venture.

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