New Delhi, May 22 -- Pop-culture apparel brand The Souled Store, backed by private equity firms such as Xponentia Capital, RPSG Capital, Elevation Capital and Alteria Capital, has recorded strong revenue growth in the fiscal year ending March 2026, VCCircle has learnt.

The Souled Store, started in 2013 by Vedang Patel, offers fan merchandise and casual wear. It has partnered with over 200 licensed pop culture merchandise brands such as Disney, Marvel, WWE, Game of Thrones, Looney Tunes, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Liverpool FC. A year ago, it had acquired the pop culture apparel brand Red Wolf.

In FY26, the firm clocked net revenues of around Rs 700 crore (around $73 million), two sources told VCCircle. This is a sharp 40% growth from Rs 500 crore recorded a year ago, according to Tracxn.

"Growth was across all segments, and the company has shaped up with the new categories and the right set of stores that we have opened," said chief financial officer Chirag Mavani. Mavani added that the footwear and backpacks segments seem to be scaling up rapidly.

The firm has gradually added pop culture-themed products across categories such as journals, umbrellas, perfumes, backpacks and sneakers, and has added 30 stores last year, bringing the total to 73 in FY26.

Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin during the year ended March is likely to be around 11-13%, Mavani said, higher than the 9.7% seen in FY25.

When asked about the firm's IPO plans, Mavani said the firm will evaluate listing plans but did not share any timeline for this.

In an interaction with VCCircle last year, the firm's founder, Vedang Patel, said the firm was tentatively looking at an IPO by 2027. Meanwhile, several firms have slowed down or even halted their IPO plans because of uncertainties in the primary market and volatile global geopolitics.

The Souled Store company raised its first institutional funding in 2019, when RPSG Ventures invested Rs 22 crore in its Series A round. In 2021, it secured Rs 75 crore in Series B funding from Elevation Capital and angel investors. This was followed by a Rs 135 crore Series C round in 2023, led by mid-market private equity firm Xponentia. In October 2023, cricketer Hardik Pandya, previously a brand ambassador, also joined as an investor. To date, it has raised over Rs 230 crore across multiple funding rounds.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.