Started with ₹1 Cr, These Brothers Now Run a ₹10 Cr/Month Home & Kitchen Empire, Raises $2.2M Seed Round

Most Indian kitchens share a familiar scene—sturdy old pressure cookers hissing away, mismatched plastic containers stacked high, and a drawer full of tools no one really uses but can’t throw away. It all works, just about. But beneath the surface, there’s a quiet frustration.

The lids never quite fit, the storage never feels enough, and the design? Not very appealing. Indian homes are full of products that get the job done but rarely look aesthetic.

Gwalior-based entrepreneurs Tanishq and Divyam Jain saw this problem every day. What started as a casual conversation between two small-town brothers from Gwalior soon turned into a business idea—one that is now shaking up the ₹2.5 lakh crore Indian home and kitchen market. 

“Why do we settle for functional but uninspiring products?” Tanishq said during an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia. “We wanted to create something modern, beautiful, and practical for Indian homes.”

That vision became HomeEssentials—one of India’s fastest growing home and kitchen brand that’s clocking ₹10 crore in monthly revenue just a year after launch.

From Gwalior to Gurugram: How the Idea Took Shap

“We spent months researching consumer behavior and realized one thing—legacy brands were everywhere, but innovation was nowhere,” Divyam recalls.

The Gwalior-based entrepreneurs discovered that most products in the Indian home category were outdated—high on function, low on aesthetics. That insight led to the launch of HomeEssentials in January 2024, right from their small-town roots in Gwalior

They started small, with a 15-member team and a ₹1 crore loan from friends and family. But even in their first month, the Gwalior-based home and kitchen brand clocked ₹30 lakh in revenue.

Read More: This village boy started a farming biz at 15 to pay his 11th grade school fees – now runs an organic pesticides startup worth Rs 50 Cr

What HomeEssentials Does

HomeEssentials offers modern, multifunctional, and space-saving products for Indian homes—ranging from kitchen tools and organizers to cleaning kits and soft furnishing.

The idea was simple: offer essentials that are not just useful but also beautiful and intelligently designed

“Our goal is to make homes more organized and joyful with fewer, smarter products,” Tanishq says in the Startup Pedia interview. 

Explosive Growth and Customer Love

While most brands struggle to cross ₹10 lakh/month in their early days, HomeEssentials—founded by Gwalior-based entrepreneurs—clocked ₹30 lakh in its first month. By month three, they had already crossed the ₹1 crore/month mark. 

Today, the small-town startup is at a ₹10 crore monthly revenue run rate.

Backed by a Leading VC and Headed Offline

Just 11 months after launching, the Gwalior-based home and kitchen brand raised $2.2 million (₹18 crore) in seed funding from India Quotient, a leading VC firm known for spotting early-stage consumer brands

The funding will be used to launch two exclusive offline stores in Delhi NCR, with more planned across metro cities by year-end.

“Our goal is to make HomeEssentials a household name by blending a strong online presence with curated retail experiences,” said Tanishq in the Startup Pedia interview

He further added that the company is on track to hit ₹200 crore in annual revenue by the end of this financial year.

Read More: Three College Friends Launched a School Transport Software to Improve Safety and Reliability for Students and Parents

The Founders Behind the Brand 

Tanishq grew up learning the ropes of customer service from his father’s jewellery business in Gwalior. He chose commerce early on and tried multiple ventures during college

“Not all of them worked, but they taught me what not to do,” he says

Divyam, on the other hand, comes from a family of doctors. He was always academically inclined, but what set him apart was his ability to apply tech and data to real-world problems.

Together, the small-town founders complement each other. Tanishq brings intuition, branding, and business acumen. Divyam adds system design, operations, and analytical depth.

 But their journey wasn’t smooth.

“There were times we had to choose between running ads or restocking inventory,” Tanishq recalls in the Startup Pedia interview. “We delayed salaries—including our own—because we believed in reinvesting every rupee.”

Read More: 13 YO Bangalore Student Is Building A Gaming App To Raise Road Safety Awareness Among Children

From Tight Cash Flow to Ten-Figure Ambition

Despite early revenue growth, cash flow management was a real challenge for the Gwalior-based entrepreneurs. Payment cycles on platforms stretched to 30+ days, while suppliers had to be paid upfront

Bootstrapping in the beginning taught them financial discipline, which still guides their decision-making today.

By staying lean and customer-obsessed, the Gwalior-based home and kitchen brand scaled operations from a small Gwalior team to a 130+ member workforce split across Gurugram and backend hubs.

Vision for the Future

“Our vision is simple. We want HomeEssentials in every Indian home,” Divyam says in the Startup Pedia interview

But they’re not chasing growth for vanity. The brand is focused on building a profitable, sustainable, and trust-driven business

As they scale, the focus remains on launching more high-utility, design-forward products while maintaining strong unit economics. 

“I want every household to experience the ease and innovation HomeEssentials brings. My focus is on creating smart, problem-solving products tailored to real needs,” Divyam adds at the end of the Startup Pedia interview.

Read More: 9th Grade Student Innovates Biometric Device to Minimize Miscarriages in Pregnant Women