Parents are always very conscious of their babies. So every baby products shopping will be high qualities. Every parent wishes to provide top-class commodities for their children.

In India, there are over 68,000 babies born each day. So the country must have top-notch baby products companies. On contrary, the majority of the parents are struggling to get access to Standardize baby products.

As a result, many parents in India orders baby products online from the USA. Some parents can’t sustain the costly baby care products for prolong period.

Baby care products are million dollar company in India. According to the report, this industry grows up to $26.35 billion by 2025. It is a huge opportunity for the startups to serve.

Till now, only one startup realized the importance of baby care products. Firstcry is one such company that caters to the need of babies. 

In 2020, Firstcry baby products are one among the top searches on google. The startup has its presence in all the cities in India. 

Online baby product shopping in India has become easy with a seamless experience.

This blog let us know how the Firstcry startup was founded. And Unveil the Firstcry startup story.

Firstcry startup

Fisrtcry is an Indian company, Pune based-startup, that provides the best quality of baby care products both online and offline. The Firstcry startup has made remarkable work in the baby care products industry.

Now a lot of Indian parents can easily buy baby care products. Due to the rapid adoption of digitalization, every parent orders baby products online. Around 13 million new parents visit the Firstcry website every month.

In total, 92 million customers visit the website to order baby products every month. Moreover, there are 7.5 million registered users who buy Firstcry baby products regularly.

Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha are the founders of the Firstcry company. Supam has aware of the borken and un-served baby care products sectors. He felt guilty about not getting products to his kids in India.

Firstycry company was founded in 2010. After the launch, within one year the company serves almost 500 deliveries per day. By 2013 they had 1 million Fisrtcry customers.

 This high traction towards online baby products shopping made them expand their services. The company now serves 400+ stores across India.

Further, it has more than 6000 brands on its platform to provide high-quality baby products. Brands like mee, Giggles, Medela, LavLap, Johnson baby, Huggies, and many more. Even in 2019, it expands its services to UAE.

Famous Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of Firstcry company. Now Firstcry startup story is evolving and making babies’ products with the best qualities.

Also read: Unacademy success story

Firstcry startup story

Startups are set up to solve some specific existing problems in society. Every startup has its unique problem-solving ability and mission.

Back in the early 2000s, there were no companies that cater to superior baby care products. The majority of the parents rely on outsourcing the products from the USA.

But this method was not efficient and cost-effective. Because the products were too costly of effort. Many Indian parents couldn’t able to purchase for a prolonged period.

Sometimes the orders are delivered to the users for weeks. So many parents find it an inconvenient way to buy baby care products. Even there was no solution for the existing problem.

Even Supam Maheshwari is one such struggling parent in India. Supan couldn’t not able find superior gifts or products for his son. Eventually, he ended up buying products in foreign while he was on a business trip. 

So, he deeply researched and analyzed the existing problem in the industry. Then he understood the huge opportunity in this sector.

Beginning of Firstcry startup story

Supam Maheswari is not new to startups. As was the co-founder of XpressBee a logistic company in India. Even he is co-founder of Brainvisa Technologies.

 As he is from IIM graduate and engineer from IIT Delhi, it was obvious to enter into an entrepreneurial journey.

Finally, in 2010, Supam Maheswari founded Firstly company. Amitava Saha was the co-founder and also co-founder of Brianvisa Technology.

The company made baby care products available online. Soon the company got to see a gradual increase in sales and customers. By 2013 it has served more than 1 million customers with its products.

Soon, the company became Asia’s favorite baby and kids shopping platform. Even it has expands its services with offline stores in Indian cities as well. Now the company claims more than 400+ stores.

Now the company annual rose to 897 crores. Even there are more than 2000 employees who are working in the Firstcry company. Moreover, there are more than 2 Lakhs Firstcry’s baby care products with more than 6000 brands. Firstcry startup story is inspirational to all the entrepreneurs.

Acquisition

Firstcry, a baby care products e-commerce company acquired Baby Oye. Besides, Baby Oye is an online baby business and also a subsidiary of Mahindra company. Then the acquisitions were made worth 362 crores. The deal was a mix of stock and cash.

Firstcry made this acquisition to become more stable and expand its services both offline and online. Even Mahindra Group operates over 120 stores under the Baby Oye brand. This acquisition made Firstcry even more robust.

Firstcry heads into a new direction after acquiring Oi Play Shcool. Now the company venture into the education space. Oi playschool is a series of chain schools that has 55 centers in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The Fristcry company aims to increase up to 1000 center in future.

 The main competitors in this space are KKR owned Euro Kids and Essel Group-owned Kidszee. The playschool market size will increase up to $5 billion by 2022.

Firstcry Competitors

Baby care products are a big industry. There is a huge opportunity for all the startups to enter into this sector. As a result, Firstcry has to face too many competitors in this space. So here are the top competitors of Firstcry company

1. Mamaearth
2. Hopscotch
3. Kids stop Press
4. Mumz World
5. Chicco
6. Mamas&papas
7. Mee Mee

Business Model

Firstcry incorporates a hybrid business model. The company has its presence both in online and offline sectors. Where the top brands can just merge with the company and can sell their products.

The company gets profits in the form of lucrative commissions. Even the company has its own brands and sells them on their platform as well.

Every year the company hosts a program “ Firstcry Box” where it makes an engagement with more than 70,000 parents. Besides, it caters gifts to  6000 hospitals to the parent with newborn babies. Whereas the gifts consist of basic and essential baby care products like lotion, diapers, cream, and many more.

This program builds trust and brand awareness. So, if the parents get satisfied with the products then they can order Firstcry baby products. So, the Firstcry startup story is having a great impact on mothers.

Fundings

Recently, Firstcry got funding worth $300 million. TPG, ChirCapital, and Premji are the prime investors in the fundings. Earlier Premji made an investment of $13 million.

After the investment, the companies valuation rose to $2.1 billion. 

Previously, Firstcry was successfully able to raise $296 million (2121 crores) in its Series E round. Factory baby products have got lump sum fundings from the Japan-based Marquee investors Softbank Vision Fund. From this investment, Fisry cry became the unicorn startup of India with a valuation of $1.2 billion.

In this way, Firstcry baby products company made a revolutionary impact on the industry. Now it has become easier to do online baby product shopping in India. This is how the Firstcry baby products startup story emerger out.