Sportswear and athleisure company, Agilitas Sports, which is co-founded by former Puma India MD Abhishek Ganguly, has in a strategic move acquired acquisition of Mochiko Shoes Pvt Ltd. The company is the leading sports footwear manufacturer in India and makes products for leading brands including Adidas, Puma, New Balance, Skechers, Reebok, Asics, Crocs, Decathlon, Clarks and US Polo.
This comes at a time when sportswear and athleisure segment is expected to almost quadruple by 2030 on the back of rising demand from Indian consumers.
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“Global brands are increasingly looking to strengthen their sourcing and supply chains in India as it enables swifter launches and lower logistics costs. Therefore they are looking to grow domestic sourcing capacities in partnership with players like Mochiko. The company’s manufacturing capabilities, operational excellence and strategic partnerships with leading global giants, positions us to address the Government’s clarion call to ‘Make in India”, Abhishek Ganguly, CEO and co-founder, Agilitas Sports told businessline. He added that the company is known for its quality products and shares strong relationships with global and domestic brands. He did not reveal commercials of the deal.
Established in 2008, by Virender Awal and a co-founding team of five members, Mochiko Shoes registered a revenue of Rs 642 crore in FY2023, and is estimated to grow by 30 per cent, Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y). It is the first sports footwear manufacturer to get a BIS license. The company’s revenues are projected to grow to Rs. 820 crore in the current fiscal.
Virender Awal, Founder & CEO of Mochiko Shoes Pvt. Ltd., spoke about the acquisition, “Joining the Agilitas family propels our ambitions. We are now poised to enhance long-term investments, addressing the soaring demand in the Sports and Athleisure footwear sector. We envision multifold and multifaceted growth in our business over the next 5-6 years, adding jobs and livelihood.”
“Mochiko Shoes will operate as a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Agilitas Group, which aims to be the largest sports company in India. The same management team will continue to grow Mochiko and Virender Awal will continue to operate as the CEO. Agilitas Group will put additional investments to enhance capabilities and capacities of Mochiko especially at a time when global footwear majors want to also manufacture more from India,” Ganguly added.
The company has manufacturing units located in Dehradun and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand) as well as in the National Capital Region (NCR), of Noida. Mochiko employs nearly 10,000 individuals, across the length and breadth of its operations. Ganguly said the plans to gradually double the manfacturing capacity of Mochiko are on the cards.
The founding team of Agilitas Sports comprises Abhishek Ganguly, the former Managing Director of Puma India and South East Asia, Atul Bajaj, former Executive Director – Sales and Operations of Puma India, and Amit Prabhu, former Executive Director and chief Financial Officer of Puma India.It has raised initial investments of Rs. 430 crore from funds advised by Convergent Finance LLP, an investment management and advisory partnership led by Harsha Raghavan and individual investors.