Last week, Aditya Birla Fashion’s TMRW scored a bargain when it acquired a 75-80% stake in direct-to-consumer (D2C) apparel brand Bewakoof. The Rs 200 crore it paid for a controlling stake in the brand was seen as a steal, considering Bewakoof’s previous valuation stood at Rs 483 crore.

Decade-old Bewakoof, however, has seen better days. In the year ended March 2019, it was profitable—an anomaly in the startup world. It clocked Rs 30 lakh in profit on revenues of Rs 164.5 crore. The years since, however, have seen it flounder. Bewakoof’s revenue of Rs 128.7 crore in the year ended March 2021 resulted in losses of Rs 20 crore.

For TMRW, however, the struggling brand was the perfect addition to its portfolio. Speaking after the acquisition of Bewakoof, Prashant Aluru, CEO and co-founder of TMRW, stated that the aim was to grow the brand’s revenue to over Rs 500 crore within two years.