As India’s startup ecosystem has matured, one doesn’t have to be in the startup hubs of Bengaluru, NCR or Mumbai to build a successful company any more — it can be done from smaller cities as well.
The founders of Jaipur-based Minimalist have made an estimated Rs. 1,950 crore after their company was acquired by Hindustan Unilever. Hindustan Unilever acquired 90.5 percent of Minimalist for Rs. 2,955 crore, and will acquire the remaining 9.5 percent from the founders over the next two years. Impressively, Minimalist was founded just five years ago, and has resulted in one of the biggest paydays ever for founders in the D2C space in India.
Minimalist was founded by Jaipur-based siblings Mohit Yadav and Rahul Yadav. As per Traxn data, they own 61.5 percent of the company, while investors including Sequoia Capital and Unilever Ventures own 33 percent. The remaining 5.9 percent is with the ESOP pool. With an acquisition at a valuation of Rs. 3,200 crore, Mohit and Rahul Yadav will together make Rs. 1,950 crore, while Peak XV and other investors will make around Rs. 1,000 crore. Minimalist employees will make around Rs. 190 crore from the deal.
Minimalist, though, isn’t an overnight success. It had been founded by Mohit Yadav, and his younger brother Rahul Yadav in 2020. Mohit had graduated with a BCom from Rajasthan University in 2001, and also completed his CA studies. He then worked with Deloitte as an Assistant Manager, before joining Credit Suisse and ending up as an AVP in 2011. His younger brother, Rahul, had graduated from IIT Roorkee with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 2008.
The duo got started on their entrepreneurial journey early. In 2011, they founded an online store for branded kidswear named MangoStreet, which was acquired by Hushbabies.com in 2012. They both then worked at Jaipur-based CarDekho, with Mohit even going on to be the CEO of Indonesia -based Oto.com, which was a joint effort of CarDekho and an Indonesian company. But the brothers then took the entrepreneurial plunge again. In 2018, they founded Freewill, which created custom hair products based on each individual’s unique requirements, lifestyle habits, and environmental conditions. And In 2020, they launched Minimalist, which was a skincare brand that adopted a no-nonsense approach to skincare with the ingredients of every product listed plainly as a part of the design of the packaging.
Minimalist, though, did far better than their other two consumer efforts in MangoStreet and Freewill. The company touched a valuation of Rs. 100 crore within 8 months and being founded. Its revenue grew quickly too, from Rs. 110 crore in FY22, to Rs. 184 crore in FY23 and then to Rs. 350 crore in FY24. Unlike other startups, the company was profitable, reporting a profit of Rs. 10 crore in FY24. And in 2025 — just five years after being founded — Minimalist has been acquired at a valuation of Rs. 3,200 crore.
This makes Minimalist one of the biggest successes in India’s D2C space. In the past, there have been some major acquisitions, such as Titan’s acquisition of Caratlane for Rs. Rs. 4,600 crore, Good Glamm’s acquisition of the Mom’s Co, Reliance Retail’s acquisition of Alia Bhatt’s Ed-a-Mama for Rs. 300 crore, and Aditya Birla Retails acquisition of Bewakoof for Rs. 200 crore. Minimalist, however, managed a massive acquisition in five years of being founded, and while being run from a Tier 2 city like Jaipur. India’s D2C space might have plenty of competition, and hundreds of companies might have fallen by the wayside in the last couple of years, but the ones that have made it seem to have made it really big.