₹40 lakh. A lockdown workout. A 30-year garment family. Now ₹215 crore — the Marico family office just bet on India's fastest-rising athleisure brand.
In 2020, sisters Ria (20) and Shreya Mittal (18) were stuck at home in Bengaluru, working out in clothes that didn't exist yet — premium Indian athleisure that matched international quality. Their family had 30 years of garment manufacturing behind them. They had ₹40 lakh in savings and a clear idea. Five years later: proprietary ADPT™ fabric, a Zepto partnership, ₹5.5 crore MRR, and Harsh Mariwala's family office leading a ₹40 crore Series A at ₹215 crore valuation.
Ria Mittal & Shreya Mittal
Co-Founders · Cava Athleisure
Lockdown Workouts and the Gap That Needed Filling
The pandemic gave India many things. One of them, unexpectedly, was Cava Athleisure. In 2020, Ria and Shreya Mittal — 20 and 18 years old, both studying abroad at the University of the Arts London and the University of Warwick respectively — found themselves back in Bengaluru, attending lectures online, and doing what millions of Indians discovered during lockdown: working out at home every day.
The workout routine was the obvious part. The gap it exposed was the founding insight. India had no athleisure brand that matched what the sisters had grown accustomed to finding internationally — no label that combined premium sustainable fabric, designs calibrated to Indian body types and climate, and the visual sensibility of a brand you'd actually want to be associated with. The market had Jockey and Decathlon at one end and overpriced imports at the other. The middle — premium, Indian-first, community-driven athleisure for Gen Z and millennials — was empty.
What made the gap actionable rather than just observable was the family behind the founders. Their parents had been in India's garment manufacturing business for over three decades. As Ria later described it: "Almost all our dinner table conversations revolve around work and the garment industry. We got a foot in the door with the best fabric and trim suppliers because of our goodwill in the industry and all our vendors are known and trusted." The ₹40 lakh in savings — personal and family — was seed capital for a company that already had supply chain access most D2C startups take years to build. They launched with BCI-certified cotton and recycled polyester. They ran every garment through in-house tests: fabric strength, pH, tear resistance, colour bleeding. Nothing shipped until it passed.
The ADPT™ Fabric, the Zepto Partnership and the Marico Family Office
The story of Cava from 2020 to the seed round in June 2024 is a story of building in public before anyone was watching. The D2C website. The Instagram community — built by Shreya with the instinct of someone who understood that an athleisure brand is not selling leggings, it is selling a lifestyle identity that its customers want to be associated with. Monthly revenue peaks from select collections. Coverage in YourStory, Apparel Resources, Images Business of Fashion. And, crucially, a manufacturing model — fully vertical, in-house from design to quality control — that gave Cava the consistency and speed advantages that outsourced D2C brands could never match.
The $1.14 million seed round in June 2024 from Spring Marketing Capital and seven co-investors was the first formal validation from institutional India. But the product innovation that followed told the sharper story. In January 2025, Cava launched ADPT™ — its proprietary fabric blend, developed through in-house R&D. For a brand at this scale to be building textile IP, not just sourcing commodity materials, was rare. The Zepto partnership in March 2025 was the distribution milestone: one of India's first athleisure brands available through 10-minute quick-commerce, repositioning premium activewear from a planned purchase to an everyday essential.
By January 2026, the MRR had reached ₹5.5 crore. Sharrp Ventures — the family office of Harsh Mariwala, the man who built Marico into a ₹10,000 crore FMCG institution — led the ₹40 crore Series A. Rishabh Mariwala noted what all the investors circling Cava had observed: two founders in their early-to-mid twenties executing with discipline and strategic clarity that belied their age. The post-money valuation: ₹215 crore.
₹40 Crore Target, Offline and the Indian Athleisure Bet
The Indian athleisure market's fundamentals are compelling in a way that goes beyond trend. The post-pandemic convergence of work-from-home normalisation, rising gym and yoga culture, social media fitness communities, and Gen Z's refusal to accept the wardrobe split between "active" and "everyday" has created sustained, structural demand for clothing that does both. India's sportswear and athleisure market is estimated to reach $11 billion by 2030. The premium D2C segment — where Cava operates — is early and underpenetrated.
Cava's positioning within that market is specific: function-first and design-led, Indian-first in fit and fabric, community-driven in identity, and vertically integrated in operations. It competes with Blissclub (women-focused, VC-backed), HRX (celebrity IP-dependent), Cultsport, Technosport, and Decathlon — none of which combine Cava's combination of in-house manufacturing, proprietary fabric R&D, and the quick-commerce distribution partnership with Zepto.
The Series A capital is earmarked for four things: new product development (including the full men's activewear line and new ADPT™ variants), leadership team hiring, brand building at scale, and omnichannel expansion — bringing the Cava experience into offline retail after five years as a pure-play digital brand. The FY26 revenue target is ₹40 crore — a 30x jump from the ₹1.31 crore of FY2024. Two sisters from Bengaluru, a family garment business behind them, an ADPT™ fabric under their belt, and the Marico family office behind the next phase. The Indian athleisure story has a new benchmark.
"Since we come from a family that has been in the garment industry, almost all our dinner table conversations revolve around work. We got a foot in the door with the best fabric and trim suppliers because of our goodwill — and our production facility and machinery are world-class because of the superior technology we use. That head start is real. But the brand? That we had to build from zero."
— Ria Mittal, Co-Founder & CEO, Cava Athleisure
Company Timeline
- 2020 — COVID-19 Lockdown
Ria Mittal (BSc Fashion Management, University of the Arts London, age 20) and Shreya Mittal (University of Warwick, age 18) are home in Bengaluru for the pandemic lockdown, attending classes online. Their daily workout routine — the one thing giving them structure in the chaos — reveals a glaring gap: India has no athleisure brand that matches international quality, style, and versatility. With ₹40 lakh in personal and family savings and 30 years of family garment industry infrastructure, they launch CAVA.
- 2020–22
Cava is launched D2C through its own website. The founding model: in-house production using BCI cotton and recycled polyester, direct-to-consumer pricing between ₹800 and ₹2,500, and a community-first content strategy on Instagram and social media built by Shreya. Ria manages design, production, and quality control — leveraging the family's trusted fabric supplier network and state-of-the-art production facility. YourStory features Cava as an emerging women-led brand in February 2022.
- 2022–23
Cava formalises as Cava Athleisure Private Limited (incorporated 2022–23, ROC Bengaluru). The brand expands its product range beyond women's activewear to include co-ord sets, hoodies, and beginnings of a men's line. Monthly revenue from select collections reaches ₹15 lakh. Apparel Resources and Images Business of Fashion cover the brand. The founders begin scouting for institutional capital to scale manufacturing and marketing while staying true to the slow-fashion, fabric-quality-first thesis.
- Jun 2024
Seed round closed: $1.14 million from Spring Marketing Capital (lead) and 7 other investors. 8 institutional investors total in the seed. Cava's valuation after seed: approximately ₹60 crore. Funds deployed toward capacity expansion, new product development, and brand marketing. FY2024 revenue: ₹1.31 crore — a small base, but with accelerating MRR growth in the months following the seed.
- Jan 2025
ADPT™ fabric blend launched — Cava's first proprietary material developed through in-house R&D. The launch positions Cava as more than a garment brand: it is becoming a textile innovator. Valuation doubles to approximately ₹120 crore in six months following the seed round. Monthly revenue run rate targets ₹2.5 crore by December 2024, confirmed by Fashion Network.
- Mar 2025
Zepto partnership announced — Cava becomes one of India's first athleisure brands to sell through 10-minute quick-commerce. The collaboration reframes premium athleisure as an everyday essential. Products available for rapid urban delivery across major cities. The partnership signals Cava's shift to omnichannel from pure-play D2C. Plans confirmed for offline retail expansion and a full men's activewear line in 2025.
- Jan 2026
Series A: ₹40 crore ($4.4M) raised on January 29, 2026. Led by Sharrp Ventures — the family office of Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala, contributing ₹21 crore. V3 Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital co-invest. Post-money valuation: ₹215 crore ($23.3M). MRR at time of raise: ₹5.5 crore. FY26 revenue target: ₹40 crore. Rishabh Mariwala of Sharrp Ventures: 'The founders' disciplined execution and strategic acumen despite their relatively young age is exceptional.' Funds earmarked: new product development, leadership hiring, brand building, and omnichannel distribution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What products does Cava Athleisure make and at what price points?
Cava Athleisure makes leggings, joggers, sports bras, tops, co-ord sets, hoodies, shorts, and activewear essentials for both women and men. Products are priced between ₹800 and ₹2,500 — positioning Cava in the premium affordable segment, significantly below international athleisure brands (Nike, Lululemon) but above mass-market Indian brands. All garments are made using BCI-certified cotton, recycled polyester, or the proprietary ADPT™ blend. The brand operates in-house production from design and pattern-making through quality testing and fulfilment — allowing consistent quality control that outsourced manufacturing cannot guarantee.
What does 'vertically integrated' mean for Cava and why does it matter?
Cava owns its production process end-to-end — from fabric sourcing and design to pattern-making, quality testing, and packaging. This means Cava does not outsource manufacturing to third-party factories, which eliminates quality inconsistency, speeds up product development, allows proprietary fabric R&D (like ADPT™), and enables rapid response to trends. In India's D2C fashion space, most brands contract external manufacturers and sacrifice control over quality and lead times. Cava's vertical integration is possible because the founders' family has operated garment manufacturing infrastructure for 30+ years, giving Cava state-of-the-art machinery and trusted supply-chain relationships from inception.
Who is Rishabh Mariwala and why did Sharrp Ventures invest in Cava?
Rishabh Mariwala is the Managing Director of Sharrp Ventures, the family office of his father Harsh Mariwala — the founder and chairman of Marico Ltd., the FMCG company behind Parachute, Saffola, and Set Wet. Sharrp Ventures focuses on early-stage consumer and D2C companies in India. Rishabh Mariwala commented on the Cava investment: 'The founders' disciplined execution and strategic acumen despite their relatively young age is exceptional.' Sharrp Ventures contributed ₹21 crore of the ₹40 crore Series A, making it the lead and most committed institutional backer. The Mariwala family's deep experience in scaling Indian consumer brands to category leadership is a strategic asset for Cava beyond the capital.
Is Cava Athleisure available in offline stores in India?
As of early 2026, Cava Athleisure is primarily a D2C digital brand — selling through its own website (cavaathleisure.com) and online marketplaces, with a Zepto quick-commerce partnership launched in March 2025. The company has confirmed offline retail expansion as a key use of its Series A proceeds. Cava has historically done pop-ups and experience-centre events to bring the brand to customers directly. Full offline store or large-format retail distribution is part of the planned omnichannel expansion in FY2026–27. GST registrations in Delhi and Haryana (both active) indicate national distribution ambitions beyond Karnataka.