Mumbai: Ananta Capital has acquired a majority stake in Phitku, the Made-in-India personal care and hygiene brand focused on body odour management through science-backed, alum-based formulations. The investment comes just 14 months after the brand’s launch and marks its first institutional funding, underscoring investor interest in science-led, clean personal care businesses.
The transaction has been structured as a combination of a primary capital infusion and a secondary share purchase, providing fresh growth capital while allowing partial liquidity for the founders. Co-founders Sumit Marda, Neha Marda, and Rahul Dokania will continue to lead the business while retaining a significant stake.
Founded in early 2025, Phitku has operated on a fully bootstrapped and profitable model. The company said the partnership with Ananta Capital will help accelerate product innovation, strengthen brand-building efforts, expand distribution across direct-to-consumer (D2C), quick commerce and marketplaces, and support selective international expansion.
Within just over a year of operations, Phitku has served more than six lakh customers across India through its own platform, online marketplaces and quick commerce channels, establishing itself as one of the country’s leading natural odour protection brands.
Commenting on the investment, Ashutosh Taparia, Founder & Managing Partner, Ananta Capital, said, “What drew us to Phitku was the category itself. Consumers today are increasingly seeking cleaner personal care products and paying closer attention to ingredients, while odor protection remains a large category with limited innovation. Phitku has modernized a trusted ingredient like alum and built a proposition that resonates with today’s consumers. We believe the brand is well positioned to lead this emerging category.”
Sanjeev Taparia, part of the Taparia family, added, “We have been impressed by what the founders have built in such a short period of time. Going forward, we see an opportunity to build Phitku into a broader clean personal care platform by leveraging our consumer ecosystem, distribution network, product development capabilities, and international presence.”
Sharing his perspective on the partnership, Sumit Marda, Co-founder & CEO of Phitku, said, “Phitku was founded with a simple vision, to build a science-led personal care brand that consumers can genuinely trust. As a team, we’ve stayed focused on one thing: building products that are clean, safe, and that actually work. For us, efficacy and safety aren’t trade-offs; they go hand in hand. In a market where consumers have grown weary of brands that over-promise and under-deliver, we set out to bring back something simpler, pure trust and lasting loyalty. In just over a year, that approach has helped us build a community of over 6 lakh customers, reaffirming the demand for clean, effective, and ingredient-conscious hygiene solutions.
Partnering with Ananta Capital is an important milestone for us. This is about far more than capital. Ananta brings the strategic expertise, operational experience, and long-term vision to help us build Phitku into a true personal hygiene platform, one that scales responsibly, accelerates innovation, and strengthens our distribution across both Indian and international markets. Together, we aim to build Phitku into India’s leading science-led personal hygiene brand.”
Phitku’s products are built around alum-based formulations designed to eliminate body odour at its source rather than masking it with artificial fragrances. The company positions its portfolio as clean, alcohol-free and skin-friendly, tailored for Indian climatic conditions and everyday use.
Looking ahead, the company said it will continue to focus on category leadership before diversifying its portfolio, following a strategy of introducing products only where it can deliver differentiated and effective solutions. With Ananta Capital’s backing, Phitku is targeting four to five times growth over the next two years, with the goal of reaching an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of ₹300 crore while expanding its presence in global markets as a science-led hygiene brand originating from India.
