From Zero to Exit: Building a D2C brand in India

About this event

About the Speaker:

Arjun Vaidya was the CEO at Dr. Vaidya's: New Age Ayurveda (until Jan 2021). Prior to his entrepreneurial stint, Arjun graduated from Brown University, USA with a BA with honors in International Relations and Economics. He then worked in private equity at a consumer sector focused fund, L Capital Asia (the private equity arm of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Group) where he focused specifically on consumer brands and consumer tech.

In October 2016, Arjun quit his job to take on his 150-year-old family legacy of Ayurvedic formulations that his grandfather left behind. Dr. Vaidya’s repackaged the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda and emerged as India’s largest Ayurveda brand online. The brand has successfully reached 1m+ consumers across 500+ cities and 16,500+ pin codes in India. Arjun was the first Ayurvedic Entrepreneur to be featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List for and Business World 40 Under 40 List! Dr. Vaidya’s also won Youth SMB of the Year from Amazon and the Retail Startup Award from the Retailers Association of India. In June 2019, Dr. Vaidya’s partnered with the USD 4b RP Sanjiv Goenka Group and has now been acquired by the group – making it one of India’s first successful D2C exits.

Currently, Arjun leads venture investing for Verlinvest in India (one of the world’s largest consumer brand focused funds). He is also an active angel investor mentor to brands in India’s D2C and ecommerce ecosystem.

Outside of work, Arjun is an advisor to football focused NGO, Just for Kicks, is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a Mentor at the Atal Innovation Mission. He is also a part of the All-India Management Association’s Young Leaders Conference and a member of Brown University’s Young Alumni Advisory Council.