Kusha Kapila's Shapewear Brand Underneat Bags $6 Mn from Fireside Ventures

Direct-to-customer (D2C) shapewear brand Underneat has raised $6 million from Fireside Ventures. Existing investor Ghazal Alagh, cofounder of Honasa Consumer Limited, remains engaged with the brand.

The Gurugram-based start-up was founded by Razdan and social media content creator Kusha Kapila in April 2025. The fresh capital will be used for scaling operations and strengthening distribution channels across Indian cities.

“Underneat is building a category that has been structurally overlooked in the Indian market. What began as a precise articulation of a consumer gap has evolved into a brand with clear product leadership and early evidence of scale,” said Adarsh Menon, Partner, Fireside Ventures.

Since launch, Underneat has captured significant market share in India's nascent shapewear category by offering quality products at accessible price points. The brand's steep growth has been driven by strong product-market fit and direct consumer engagement across digital channels.

So far, it has crossed ₹150 crore ARR (annual recurring revenue) while remaining EBITDA positive less than 8 months since its launch in April 2025.

“We are grateful to the hundreds of thousands of women who reach out to us everyday with product demands, and for generously sharing their feedback on fit and feel. This funding validates the trust our 2,00,000 strong community has placed in us and enables us to serve them even better as we build innerwear designed for the Indian woman,” said cofounders Kusha Kapila and Vimarsh Razdan.

The start-up had also raised $1 million from Fireside Ventures and Mamaearth cofounder Ghazal Alagh. The platform has sold products worth ₹12 crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) in November.

Its products, including shapewear, innerwear, saree shapewear, and other, are available on its own D2C website. Recently, it has also started selling its products on quick commerce platform like Blinkit and ecommerce platform Myntra.

Currently, India’s innerwear market for women is valued at $5.06 billion, and is projected to reach $9.57-$12 billion by 2030-2033 at a CAGR of 8.4%-11.2%, driven by rising disposable incomes, increasing urbanisation, and ecommerce adoption. The sector is gaining prominence with brands like Reliance Retail-owned Zivame, Tital Capital-backed Kryyv, and Clovia.