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This Gurugram-based Startup Pampers Your Luxury Sneakers & Bags – Gets Shark Tank Funding Of Rs 90 lakhs.

Founded in 2020, Sneakinn is a Gurugram-based premium sneaker laundry service that cleans and restores sneakers, shoes, and luxury handbags. The brand recently bagged a deal on Shark Tank India Season 4.

By Naina Yadav
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Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain - Founders of Sneakinn

Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain - Founders of Sneakinn

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“Wait…now you'll clean your shoes???”

Many told Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain this when they decided to set up a sneaker restoration and cleaning startup in 2020. 

“But we knew we were onto something—we had found a real problem that needed to be addressed. The stigma didn't bother us. So we focused solely on looking forward,” shares Sahil Jain, co-founder of Sneakinn, in an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia. 

Fast forward four years and Sneakinn has grown into a reliable brand that 20,000+ customers trust with their luxury sneakers, shoes, and bags. 

Sneakinn has 3 retail stores across Delhi and Mumbai, a centralized workshop, and a convenient pick-up and drop-off service across the country. 

Recently, the startup founders appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4 and bagged a funding deal worth Rs 90 lakhs from Anupam Mittal.

Sneakinn on Shark Tank India
Sneakinn on Shark Tank India

THE BEGINNING 

After studying at The University of Manchester in England, Sahil Jain returned home to manage his father's business.

On the other hand, Arunima Jain, after studying at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Delhi, started working as a designer with brands like Address Home and Sarita Handa.

Being a sneakerhead, Sahil would often indulge in buying premium sneakers but met with an incident that caused him to get up and take notice of an evident problem statement in the market. 

“In India, I had given a pair of my sneakers to a dry cleaner. But they had used a peculiar type of shoe polish on them and it ruined the pair. No one picked up my calls and there was no customer service either,” says the Gurugram-based startup founder. 

“That's when I realized that there was no specialized service that could provide care and maintenance to luxury shoes, sneakers, and bags,” he adds. 

Arunima and Sahil, having dated since school, knew that they would end up starting a business together.

The duo joined hands to launch Sneakinn in 2020. 

They had a simple mission: to expertly clean, pamper, and restore luxury shoes, sneakers, and bags.

Sneakinn Before Service and After Service Pic
Sneakinn Before Service and After Service Pic

Also Read: Goa Girl Starts Her Study Abroad Startup At 15, Gets Shark Tank India Funding at 19

THE JOURNEY 

The startup founders had started Sneakinn, but they were new to the industry. 

Sahil Jain had an empty room on the terrace of his house. That room became the first office and workshop out of which the service startup entered the market and marked its initial presence.

“Since we had figured out the ‘what’ but didn't know the ‘how,’ a lot of time was spent going neck-deep in research. We would spend hours on YouTube looking through sneaker cleaning and restoring videos. We realized restoring luxury sneakers and bags was very different from the traditional drycleaning methods,” sgares entrepreneur Arunima Jain while talking to Startup Pedia.

Also Read: Delhi Startup Builds AI Platform That Simplifies Study Abroad, Educational Tours

Sahil and Arunima hired someone from a drycleaning background and trained him to learn the methods of catering to premium shoes and bags. 

Arunima took a one-month leave from her job to focus on setting up Sneakinn with Sahil. But she was never to return to the job. 

This was because Sneakinn had started gaining traction in the first few weeks of inception. 

But how?

The startup founders planned and executed an attractive campaign on social media, especially Instagram. 

“In 2020, Instagram was booming. We released a Buy One Get One service, attached special notes to every order and requested people to put in a good word for us on their stories. All of this made Sneakinn get a strong word-of-mouth credibility as well,” explains Arunima Jain.

While their social media presence started translating into paying customers, Sneakinn’s founders grappled with training issues. 

The problem was that most workers they hired didn't know the correct way of handling luxury items. It was something that was foreign to them. 

“I believe it's more difficult to unlearn something that you know for ages than to learn something new. That was the struggle with our initial staff,” Sahil Jain says. 

However, the service startup eventually started figuring it out, delivered training, and established stringent SOPs for their workforce.

“In our first year of business, we slowly grew to a team of ten people,” Sahil Jain tells Startup Pedia. 

Sneakinn Team
Sneakinn Team

SNEAKINN: PAMPERS YOUR LUXURY SHOES AND BAGS

After hours of YouTube videos, training their staff, understanding and absorbing the market, and successfully catering to customers from their terrace room, Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain started expanding. 

“Today we have a centralized workshop as well as three retail outlets across the cities of Delhi and Mumbai,” says Gurugram-based entrepreneur Arunima Jain.

Customers can either visit the retail outlets or simply book a pick-up and drop-off service. The latter is available pan-India. 

Apart from just restoring, cleaning, and re-colouring premium sneakers and luxury bags, the service startup offers certain products that can be used at home.

These include a basic sneaker cleaning kit, a complete sneaker cleaning kit, a crease guard, and a handbag dustbag. 

“Some customers who do not want to opt for our full-fledged restoration and cleaning service simply buy these easy-to-use products. They're far more affordable too,” explains Sahil Jain. 

Since its inception, Sneakinn has restored 75,000+ articles of 20,000 customers across the country. 

Witnessing an upward graph of annual revenue, the premium sneakers and bags service startup clocked a revenue of Rs 5.9 crore in FY24. 

For FY25, the projected annual revenue is Rs 7.3 crore.

Sneakinn Current Team
Sneakinn Current Team

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SHARK TANK INDIA MILESTONE 

Sneakinn's Arunima Jain and Sahil Jain appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4. 

They got offers from sharks Ritesh Agarwal, Anupam Mittal, and Vineeta Singh. 

The startup founders accepted Anupam Mittal’s offer of Rs 90 lakhs against an equity of 6.5%. 

“After the Shark Tank episode aired, we've been receiving a lot of queries in terms of franchises and outlets. It's been a very great experience and further solidified Sneakinn’s credibility in the sneaker and bag service market,” says entrepreneur Sahil Jain. 

WAY AHEAD

Sneakinn's founders Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain plan to expand their service startup nationally. They are aiming to set up retail outlets in major metropolitan cities of the country. 

The entrepreneurs also want to begin exploring franchise options in certain cities. 

“We want to scale Sneakinn and position it as something that comes to mind immediately when someone thinks of cleaning, restoring, or maintaining their luxury sneakers, bags, and handbags. That's the kind of brand recall we are working towards,” they sign off.

Sneakinn Retail Store
Sneakinn Retail Store

 

Also Read: Salem Startup By Corporate Veterans Builds Word-Class Co-Working Offices For Cos In Tier 2 & 3 Cities, Clocks ₹45 Lakh Per Month Within A Year

FAQ

When was Sneakinn founded?
Sneakinn is a Gurugram-based premium sneaker laundry service founded in 2020.
Who are the founders of Sneakinn?
Sahil Jain and Arunima Jain are the founders of Sneakinn.
What does Sneakinn do?
Sneakinn is a Gurugram-based premium sneaker laundry service that expertly cleans and restores sneakers, shoes, and luxury handbags.
What is the revenue of Sneakinn?
Witnessing an upward graph of annual revenue, the premium sneakers and bags service startup clocked a revenue of Rs 5.9 crore in FY24. For FY25, the projected annual revenue is Rs 7.3 crore.
Did Sneakinn get a deal on Shark Tank India?
Sneakinn's Arunima Jain and Sahil Jain appeared on Shark Tank India Season 4. The startup founders accepted Anupam Mittal’s offer of Rs 90 lakhs against an equity of 6.5%.