Direct-to-consumer (D2C) skincare brand Foxtale has raised $4 million in pre-Series A funding led by Matrix Partners India. Existing investor Kae Capital also participated in the round.

The Mumbai-based startup said it will use the funding to expand its product offering, hire senior vertical managers and scale its operations.

Founded less than a year ago, Foxtale focuses on skincare innovation and builds products based on consumer demand. Existing skincare brands are either herbal or Ayurveda, which are ineffective and expensive, the company said.

The brand entered the market with four products – cleanser, vitamin C serum, moisturiser and sunscreen. These are the product categories people use the most and need better formulations, the company said.

With the new investment, Foxtale now aims to launch more targeted solutions to other skincare concerns.

The startup raised a seed round in August 2021 and launched in December. It found early product-market fit and claimed to have received an undisclosed number of orders with a repeat rate of over 50%, which led to a quick Series A round.

D2C businesses have grown exponentially and raised significant capital as digital adoption picked up in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

D2C brands start by selling their products online and are assisted by other e-commerce marketplaces such as Flipkart, Myntra and Amazon.

Last year, the industry raised more than $2 billion, but capital flows have slowed this year. The D2C unit raised $153.4 million in the third quarter, up from $105 million a year earlier. However, the number of transactions remained the same.