Virat Kohli's WROGN Gets ₹75 Crore Fund from Aditya Birla Digital Fashion

In a bid to bolster its ongoing expansion strategies, WROGN, a label endorsed with Virat Kohli, has secured ₹75 crores from Aditya Birla Digital Fashion, which now owns 32.84%.

Virat Kohli’s fashion brand, WROGN, has been able to secure about ₹75 crore in funding from Aditya Birla Digital Fashion Ventures Limited (ABDFVL). With this contribution, ABDFVL’s investment in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand has grown from a 17.10% equity stake to 32.84% fully diluted.

The funding is the final tranche of previously stated primary investments into WROGN, subject to certain milestone based valuations, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail said in an exchange filing. This defines the conglomerate's continued interest in WROGN’s parent company, Universal Sportsbiz, to which TMRW, Aditya Birla Group’s fashion wing, had picked up a 16 per cent stake in June for ₹125 crore.

With this last investment, ABDFVL will have a total of 12,225 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS), which will help them further expand in the digital fashion space. This fits in with the Aditya Birla Group agenda of increasing the number of digital-first brands within its portfolio.

WROGN, founded by Anjana and Vikram Reddy in 2014, is a one stop destination for a variety of men’s casual wear, footwear and accessories. Although the brand is selling their revenues at ₹1,000 crore in the current year, it plans on selling more at ₹1,500 crore in the next five years by staying afloat despite hitting into many roadblocks such as operating revenue printing a 29 per cent slump to ₹243.8 crore in FY 2023-24.

The funding is also coming in the face of a growing Indian D2C interest where other start-ups such as Theatre and FASHOR are also raising money demonstrating resiliency in the market even in the face of difficulties.