ICON Secures $1.2 Million Seed Funding to Transform Luggage Market in India

• ByStartupStory     |    May 8, 2024

ICON, an innovative direct-to-consumer startup focused on luggage and travel accessories, has successfully closed a $1.2 million seed funding round led by DSG Consumer Partners, with additional contributions from several angel investors. This funding boost is set to propel ICON’s mission to dominate the luggage industry in India by enhancing its product offerings, expanding its team, and strengthening distribution channels.

The investment underscores ICON’s commitment to the mass premium segment of the Luggage and Travel Accessories (LTA) category, offering a variety of products including hard luggage, backpacks, and handbags designed to cater to the modern traveler’s needs. With this new capital, ICON aims to innovate and broaden its product range.

Mohammad Patel, CEO of ICON, expressed his enthusiasm about the market opportunities: “India is at the inflection point, and travel is taking off. Travel has bounced back post the COVID drawdown and, along with it, consumer spending on travel-related consumer goods purchases. An increase in consumer expenditure on lifestyle, growing per capita income, and a surge in business and leisure trips are few of the many tailwinds driving this consumption category. We believe that Indian consumers deserve superiorly built products with better aesthetics, design, and utility at an affordable price. We see a clear opportunity to build products with superior quality, design, and functionality and are very excited about the opportunity.”

ICON was founded by Mohammad Patel, Poojan Shah, Fazal Lakhani, and Aakash Mehta, all seasoned entrepreneurs who previously led the health food startup MyFitness to a successful acquisition by Mensa Brands in 2022. Recognizing unmet needs within the LTA market, they now seek to redefine the Indian luggage landscape with ICON’s high-quality, stylish, and durable products.

Hariharan Premkumar, MD and Head of India at DSG Consumer Partners, reiterated their support for ICON’s vision: “We have been in touch with Mohammad and the team since their MyFitness days. They built a category-defining brand in an extremely capital-efficient manner and had a fantastic cash exit. We are excited to be their Day Zero partner as they set out to build a category-defining brand in the luggage category – a category that is set to explode in India. India is set to become the 4th-largest global spender in travel by 2030. Domestic and international tourism will boom in the coming decades. The growing demand for fashionable, high-utility aspirational products is underserved. We are excited to partner with Team ICON to address this gap by offering fashionable products with superior functionality for the modern Indian traveler.”

ICON’s products are meticulously engineered to endure the demands of travel, featuring innovative elements such as wide-handle trolleys, smart bags equipped with power bank slots and Bluetooth-enabled trackers, crafted from premium global materials.

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