MAM
Havmor appoints Anindya Dutta as managing director
MUMBAI: Havmor, India’s leading ice cream brand and a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Lotte Confectionery, has appointed Anindya Dutta as its new managing director.
He will be the first MD after Lotte acquired Havmor Ice Cream in December 2017.
Anindya will be taking forward Lotte’s vision of expanding its business footprint in India. His mission will be at one end to leverage the legacy, the category expertise and brand equity that Havmor enjoys in the ice cream category to rapidly scale up the business towards a national leadership position and at the other end to evaluate and build synergistic expansion into adjacent categories.
Anindya brings 20+ years of leadership experience in the food industry across business verticals and categories including bakery, dairy and confectionery. Prior to joining Havmor, he was with Britannia for the last 17 years in roles of increasing impact in sales, marketing, strategy and P&L Management.
In his past assignments at Britannia he was heading the dairy and bread business and more recently he was leading the international expansion of Britannia as the vice president of international business.
Havmor ice cream, now a part of Lotte Confectionery, is one of the largest ice-cream brands in India. Over several years of its existence, the brand has worked tirelessly to deliver a differentiated product to its consumers – always keeping things real. With its last campaign the brand introduced ‘The Cool Gaiz (cows)’ and repositioned itself as an ice cream ‘Made of Milk’ which reflects the core brand philosophy and what the brand has always stood for.
In the last decade, Havmor has grown ten-fold, establishing a strong brand presence and emerging as one of the fastest growing, most loved ice cream brand of the country. It is one of the few brands which operates both in retail with a network of over 40,000 ice cream outlets and a franchisee parlour model. Currently it operates 250+ flagship ice cream parlours across the country with a plan to add at least 100 more by 2020.
While innovation forms the essence of every creation at Havmor, the brand ensures to introduce real innovations to its consumers with products ranging from a ‘paan ice cream’, ‘ladoo ice cream’ to premium flavours like Belgian dark chocolate, mocha or hazelnut chiffon. This guarantees the brand caters to audiences across spectrums and with its wide reach and making it accessible to every ice cream lover making it truly a national brand.
Brands
Pre-seed funding fuels nailinit, India’s new-age nail care brand
Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund backs Gen Z-focused beauty startup
MUMBAI: nailinit, a community-first nail care startup targeting Gen Z and millennials, has raised Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 crore in a pre-seed round led by Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund and Marsshot VC, alongside a clutch of consumer, technology and operator angels.
Backed by entrepreneur and investor Nikhil Kamath, Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund is betting on nailinit’s attempt to give India’s nail care aisle a long overdue makeover. The fresh capital will be used to deepen distribution across quick commerce and D2C channels, build its community engine, and accelerate product innovation in a category that is high frequency but still light on strong brands.
Founded by Tanishq Ambegaokar and Shubham Singhal, nailinit is positioning itself at the crossroads of beauty, self-expression and culture. The brand wants nails to be more than a finishing touch. It sees them as a canvas for identity, content and commerce.
“At nailinit, we are building for a generation that sees beauty as self-expression, not just routine,” said Ambegaokar. “The nail category in India has largely been underserved by strong brands. This capital allows us to invest in product depth, community and distribution in a thoughtful and long-term way.”
Singhal added that while the brand’s tone may be playful, its operating focus is sharp. “This round strengthens our supply chain, expands our digital footprint and enables disciplined execution as we scale.”
The funding round drew notable angels including Shashank Kumar of Razorpay, Arjit Johri of Marsshot VC, Yash Jain, formerly of NimbusPost, Karan Jindal of Meta, Jivraj Singh Sachar of ISV Capital, Nishank Jain of Accel, Yashvardhan Kanoi, Ashwarya Garg of HYPD, Venus Dhuria of Phot.AI and Amishi Parasrampuria of The Whole Truth.
Gruhas Collective Consumer Fund fund manager Gauri Kuchhal, believes the opportunity lies in shifting habits. “Nail care remains underpenetrated in India, with consumers relying on time-intensive salon visits. As convenience and self-expression gain ground, press-on nails can unlock more frequent and experimental usage. Nailinit is well-placed to expand beyond press-ons into adjacent categories.”
The brand is currently the only nail care player in India blending product-led retail with a dedicated kiosk at Jio World Drive in Bandra, where customers can walk in for services while discovering the range. It has also built early traction across quick commerce platforms such as Zepto and Blinkit, with a launch on Instamart in the pipeline, and is available on Amazon, strengthening its omnichannel presence.
In a space long dominated by salon chairs and scattered labels, nailinit is attempting to file, shape and polish the category into something sharper. With fresh funding in hand, the startup is setting out to prove that in beauty, small details can make a bold statement.
