Comet, an Indian direct-to-consumer sneaker brand, has raised ₹100 crore (about $10.6m) in a Series B round led by Verlinvest, Inc42 reported on 4 September 2026.
Existing investors Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners also took part. Three angel investors joined: Urban Company co-founder and chief executive Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Snap global chief business officer Ajit Mohan, and Bhaane founder Anand Ahuja.
Verlinvest is a new backer. The valuation was not disclosed.
“Retail has become a significant growth driver for Comet, with our stores consistently outperforming the broader athleisure category in the markets we operate in. With this round, we can accelerate that expansion and build a much larger retail footprint across India.”Utkarsh Gupta, Co-founder, Comet
What Comet does
Utkarsh Gupta and Dishant Daryani founded Comet in 2023. The brand sells sneakers that are designed in-house and made in India, mostly through its own website, and puts out limited-edition releases every one to two months, according to Inc42. Inc42 said those drops often sell out within minutes, and Entrepreneur India reported that the brand has built a following of more than 500,000 on Instagram since its Series A.
It has four footwear models, each with its own sole tooling, Entrepreneur India reported. Comet said its revenue had grown nine times since its previous institutional round, without giving the figures.
According to Inc42, Comet posted operating revenue of ₹29.1 crore (about $3.1m) and a net loss of ₹4.4 crore (about $0.5m) in the year to March 2025, its first full financial year. It has not yet reported figures for the following year.
What the money is for
The company said the money would go towards opening more shops, product development and technology, and research and development, including building its own sole moulds and the tooling for new models.
Comet was set to reach ten company-run stores in September and plans to double that to 20 by the end of the financial year ending March 2027. It also plans to double its range from four to eight models, including its first sneaker designed for women.
Gupta said that each new model needed heavy spending on both product development and sole tooling, and that the women's model had taken a year to develop. In a separate statement, he said the company's shops had been doing better than the wider athleisure category in its markets and that the round would let it open many more across India.
Amit Aggarwal, a partner on Verlinvest's early-growth team for Asia, said Comet had shown that a homegrown brand could compete in a market long led by global companies, and that its focus was moving from finding product-market fit to scaling.
The funding so far
Before this round, Comet raised about $5m from Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners in July 2024, according to Inc42. DealStreetAsia and Entrepreneur India described that round as a ₹42.3 crore Series A led by Elevation Capital.
The company did not say how much it has raised in total. Law firm CMS INDUSLAW advised the investors on the Series B, according to Bar & Bench. DealStreetAsia put the Series B at nearly $10.5m, a slightly different conversion from Inc42's.
Company website: wearcomet.com