Romita Mazumdar and Foxtale: Creating skincare products that actually work

“When I decided that I wanted to create a skincare brand, I realised that the first thing I need to do is understand women,” says Mazumdar, who interviewed roughly a thousand women to understand their skin types and product-related problems. Through this research, Mazumdar came across a big problem in the industry. There weren’t skincare products that were quick to solve people’s problems and those that could be used consistently. “Either these products weren’t available or were extremely expensive,” says Mazumdar, who wanted to create a brand that solves the problems of consistency and affordability. Thus, Foxtale was born from the ‘tales’ of women.

“For me, entrepreneurship almost happened because of an intent to build a product that people can keep coming back to, and the ability to create a feeling, and not just a commodity,” adds Mazumdar, who ventured into entrepreneurship after her stints as an investment banker and a venture capitalist.

Foxtale began with four products and launched five more last year. It claims to be growing to become a profitable, ₹100 crore brand this year. The company has raised $4 million (₹30 crore) in funding so far. Efficacy and consumer centricity make Foxtale stand out. From identifying which products to launch to testing them to finalising the packaging, the company tries to include feedback from users at every step of product development. It claims to launch only those products that have over 90 percent of repeat rates.

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Mazumdar doesn’t believe in working solely by numbers, and instead believes in creating something that is truly loved. “I want to create products that my users are extremely proud of, a company that my employees are extremely happy to be in, and I want to grow it in a way that my investors take pride in the fact that they invested in us,” she says.

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Investors are impressed with Mazumdar’s vision and zeal. “We liked Romita’s passion for the space and single-minded devotion to building a large sustainable personal care business. Having been in the business with her for about a year, we are thrilled to see the results so far—customer love, growth and unit economics have all been exceptional,” says Rajat Agarwal, managing director at Matrix Partners India, one of the investors in the company.

Leading a team of 80-odd people, Mazumdar believes the team makes Foxtale what it is and that she is just a rope that ties them together. “I recently went to a colleague’s wedding who used to do a menial job at a food joint. Today, he is the leading member of one of our teams. At the wedding, he told me, ‘I would have never thought of such a lavish wedding if it weren’t for Foxtale’. To me, this impact that Foxtale is having on the lives of so many people is an achievement bigger than any other,” says Mazumdar.