Ananta Capital acquires Phitku, one of India’s fastest-growing personal care brands
Phitku was founded in early 2025 by Sumit Marda, Neha Marda, and Rahul Dokania, who came up with a digitally native personal care brand that revolves around alum (phitkari) — an ingredient that has been used for centuries to protect against body odour. Phitku has given the ingredient a modern touch in the form of alcohol-free, fragrance-free, and chemical-free products.
Within just over a year, Phitku has become a major player in the natural odour protection market segment in India, moving fast through e-commerce channels and creating a business model that is highly profitable — quite an unusual combination for a brand at this particular development stage. The company’s founders will remain important shareholders of the company and will guide its future development.
Speaking about the deal, Ashutosh Taparia, who is from the Taparia family and is Founder & Managing Partner of Ananta Capital, said, “What attracted us to Phitku was the category itself. Today’s consumers are looking for more transparent personal care products and are becoming very conscious about the ingredients, but at the same time, the category of odour protection is huge, and innovation is lacking. With Phitku, we see that an old ingredient such as alum has been modernised into an idea which will work for consumers of today.”
Sanjeev Taparia, from the Taparia family, said, “What impressed us is how much the founders have accomplished in such a short amount of time. We feel that the potential exists for Phitku to become a larger platform around clean personal care products through our consumer ecosystem, distribution, product development, and global reach.”
According to the founders, “Phitku began with a single goal, which was to offer personal care products that are clean, efficacious, and reliable. There was an opportunity to revive a classic ingredient in a form that can cater to modern-day lives and demands. Our consumer reaction to our product over the past year has been quite positive, and we are pleased to be working with Ananta Capital as we move into our next phase of growth.”
Adding to this, Rahul Dokania, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Phitku, said, “Our entire emphasis was on developing products using only natural ingredients, which are efficacious too. With the help of Ananta, we hope to add more products to our product range soon.”
Neha Marda, Co-Founder & Brand Voice, Phitku, commented, “Creating Phitku was all about gaining entry into the lives of people via the principles of honesty and simplicity.”
Ananta Capital’s investment in Phitku adds to the strength of its beauty and wellness segment, for which it has established category-defining brands in fragrances, nutraceuticals, skincare, haircare, and personal care.
