Biodegradable Sanitary Pad Startup Carmesi Raises $500K in Pre-Series A Funding

Gurgaon-based Carmesi, an India’s first brand of premium, all-natural and biodegradable sanitary pad, has raised a Pre-Series A funding of $500,000 (Rs.3.44 crore) from Samrath Bedi, Managing Director, Forest Essentials, a luxury Ayurvedic beauty brand.

The round also saw participation of other investors including Satveer Thakral from the Thakral Group, Mahesh Patel, Rohit Reddy, and Samir Saran. The existing investors who invested in Carmesi’s seed round raised in May 2017, also participated in the new funding round.

The startup will use the freshly raised capital to further strengthen the Carmesi’s marketing, expanding the product line to introduce more sustainable period-care products, and establish a stronger and well-penetrated distribution strategy.

Founded in November 2017 by former Yatra employees Tanvi Johri and Rikshav Borah (IIT-Bombay), Carmesi manufactures all-natural sanitary pads made of cornstarch and bamboo fibre. It offers subscription-based delivery where the startup home-delivers its sanitary napkins on a quarterly basis, supplying 10 pads per month. The dates of delivery can be customized for those with irregular menstruation periods, and those with heavy flows can opt to have multiple packs delivered together.

The startup claims to be the first and only brand in India to offer completely biodegradable disposal bags that enable a safe and hygienic disposal of used sanitary pads, which are very thin and soft to use.

To recall, an Ahmedabad-based startup called Saathi, also provides affordable and bio-degradable sanitary pad made from waste Banana tree fiber and provide to women in rural India. In fact, in February this year, Saathi won top award in Global Cleantech Innovation Award.

Saathi however has not opted for commercial model or subscription-based model, for that matter.

With a base of more than 50,000 customers, Carmesi claims to be growing at a rate of about 25% month-on-month.

In 2015, we featured a startup called Being Juliet, a New Delhi based startup for women also offering its subscribers a monthly box of sanitary goodies.

Via – Business Standard | Business Line

[Top Image – Linkedin.com/Tanvi Johri]

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