With India’s D2C market expanding at nearly 20 percent annually, the second edition of the TiE Delhi-NCR D2C Summit concluded with high-impact discussions around capital efficiency, omnichannel scale, AI adoption, and sustainable profitability. Hosting over 300 founders, investors, and operators across lifestyle, beauty, personal care, food and beverage, and Bharat-first brands, the Summit decoded the structural shifts shaping India’s $100 billion-plus direct-to-consumer opportunity.
Investor Lens and Capital Discipline Take Centre Stage
The Summit opened with a keynote by Harish Bijoor, who contextualised India’s consumer-led retail evolution. Bringing a sharp investor perspective, Kannan Sitaram, Co-Founder and Partner at Fireside Ventures, outlined the fundamentals of value creation, disciplined scaling, and long-term brand building.
A strong investor cohort including Yash Dholakia (Sauce VC), Addison Appu (ThinKuvate), Aditya Arora (FAAD Ventures), Abhishek Kakkar (IAN Group), Bhavika Nijhawan (Vitalis Capital), Ojasvi Babber (Amity Innovation Incubator), Shweta Tripathi (V3 Ventures), Amit Singhal (Fluid VC), and Rishabh Katiyar (InfoEdge Ventures) drove candid conversations on early-stage capital, unit economics, and brand–market fit.
Technology, Payments and AI Drive the Next Growth Wave
Ecosystem enablers spotlighted fintech and AI as core growth levers. Yogesh Miglani and Aditi Olemann from Cashfree Payments highlighted checkout innovation as critical to conversions, especially across Tier II and III markets. Miglani noted that intelligent checkout systems directly influence prepaid adoption, consumer trust, and unit economics.
Swati Agarwal (Zoom) emphasised connected customer experience as a scale differentiator, while Pradeep Sekhar Chandrasekaran (Base), Ayush Bindal (Shopify), Richard Eliab (Cloud Ambassadors), and Suryansh Jalan (FarEye) showcased automation and operational AI as profitability drivers.
Infrastructure leaders Divyashree Bhat (Google), Pankaj Bansal (NIXI), Ankit Kumar (Skye Air Mobility), and Karnika Bansal (Shadowfax) reinforced scalable distribution, with Rohit Lohia (ONDC) outlining how open commerce is reshaping D2C economics.
Founders Decode Omnichannel and Gen Z Playbooks
Founders including Siddharth Sharma (Days Ahead), Akriti Gupta (Loopie), Jatin Mahendru (Kleenest), Jatan Bawa (Perfora), and Rachit Jain (Bruno Milano) unpacked how Gen Z is redefining authenticity and retention.
Ankit Kumar, Founder and CEO, Skye Air Mobility, underscored distribution depth and cost discipline as decisive factors for durable brand building.
Upasana Sharma, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR, concluded that winning brands will be culture-first, operationally disciplined, and technologically accelerated.
Supported by Cashfree Payments, Zoom, Masters’ Union, Cloud Ambassador, Base, and Skye Air Mobility, the 2026 Summit solidified its position as a cornerstone platform guiding India’s next decade of consumer innovation.
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