Brown Living is a platform for sustainable products.
What is Brown Living?
Brown Living is India’s first online plastic-free marketplace. The startup curates products and brands that align with a sustainable lifestyle. Sustainable here refers to vegan, organic, good for the planet, and does not generate a lot of waste, either upcycled or can be recycled.
The idea is to bring affordability, accessibility, and products easily to the market for people who want to live a sustainable lifestyle. The startup was founded by Ms. Chaitsi Ahuja in 2019.
The vision of the startup is “to build an ecosystem where like-minded individuals can come together for dialogues and interactions on sustainability and make an aware choice with their money”.
Another vision is to plant a million trees and build a forest of the founder’s own.
The mission is “to contribute to people, planet and people”.
| Startup | Brown Living |
| Website | brownliving.in |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, India |
| Products | Plastic free products |
| Revenue Model | B2C |
How did it Start?
The founder started this journey on a personal level where she started making conscious and eco-friendly choices. She started a “Nothing” project for herself where she decided to witness for how long she could sustain herself without heavy purchases of clothing, skincare, toiletries, etc.
This made her cut down on a lot of unnecessary stuff but in this process, she often got brainwashed by marketing campaigns that said their products were green but actually weren’t.
This made her sit down and build a framework regarding scientifically defining sustainability. Five different things were identified – The product, what it is made of, what is the process of making it, how it is packaged, and whether after its useful life, it can be reused, recycled, or upcycled or not.
After interacting with some of the existing players in the market, the founder decided to create a marketplace that can aid like-minded individuals like her to make more informed choices in their daily lifestyles.
Quick Overview
Growth Rate
From zero on day 1 to an INR 10 crore valuation today, the startup has grown immensely. Brown Living is witnessing a 10% month-on-month, or 24% annual growth rate.
Impact
The startup ships everything plastic-free (right from product materials to packaging and shipping materials used), on average, our products help us reduce our plastic footprint by approximately 4.1 Kg per product for each product sold.
This effectively means, on average, we save 24 kgs of carbon emission for each product sold. The carbon footprint of plastic (LDPE or PET, polyethylene) is about 6 kg Carbon Emission for each kg of plastic.
In total, we have been able to save 2,03,602 kgs of plastic from entering landfills (since November 2019).
Area of Operation
Headquartered in Mumbai, this environment-friendly startup ships PAN India.
Market Penetration
For any startup, market penetration is tough initially. More than the market, it is about finding customers who are interested in investing in sustainable products.
The reasons for consumers may be different – for some, it may cost, for some, it may be the feel-good factor and for some, it may be to look cool as sustainability is in trend, as per the founder.
Finally, the customers who understand the intent behind the startup will eventually end up being a consumer too.
Team
The founder started all solo but today the team stands at a strength of 9 people employed permanently and 2 temporary ones. The team also has an army of 1,500 artisans and agencies.
Targeted Market
Currently, the target is India and Indian citizens only.
Revenue Model
This Mumbai-based startup runs on a marketplace model. The products and up for sale and that commissions the revenue. Apart from that, offline events and festivals corporate gifting, etc generate some revenue streams for Brown Living.
Competition
Large marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart are potential competitors as they list a large number of products that may or may not be sustainable. Other eco-friendly spaces like Jaypore and Nykaa’s beauty space are competitors for Brown Living.
Expansion Plans
The goal of this startup is to grow into a large and established marketplace which will happen via substantial fundraising. The startup is working with larger corporations to make their supplies greener. The idea is to make sustainability a lifestyle.
Business Type
Brown Living runs on a B2C business model.
Brown living Funding
Over time, the founder has invested over INR 25 lakhs in the startup. She also raised some funds last year via some friends and family. But overall the journey to get seed-level funding so far has been slightly tough, given the early stage the startup is in.
Founders
Ms. Chaitsi Ahuja is the founder of Brown Living who has done her Master of Science – MS, International Marketing Communications Strategy from École Supérieure de Commerce Et de Management – ESCEM.
Rewards & Recognition
The founder has been listed in LinkedIn’s Top 15 Green Voices, 100 Emerging Women Leaders YourStory, CosmoIndia Disruptor, and Google For Startups.
More
What is brown living?
Brown Living is India’s first online plastic-free marketplace. The idea is to bring affordability, accessibility, and products easily to the market for people who want to live a sustainable lifestyle.