Zootii makes personalized essentials for children aged 0 to 7, sold direct to consumer on a largely prepaid model. The core range is everyday personalization parents reach for repeatedly: name labels, iron-on and stick-on tags, waterproof stickers, and bag tags used to mark school and daycare belongings. These high-frequency, low-friction items drive the bulk of revenue and seed the brand into the back-to-school routine. Around this core we sell personalized bags, bottles, and lifestyle products that lift basket value and brand visibility.
The longer arc is a personalization platform, Znos.ai, with children's essentials as the first vertical and gifting next. The real asset is the system that turns a customer's input into a print-ready, production-routed order at scale.
Startup Description
Zootii is a direct-to-consumer brand making children lifestyle products for ages 0 to 7. Parents personalize everyday items their kids carry to school and daycare: name labels, tags, lunchboxes, bags, and bottles. The business has grown 72% YOY, with all years profitable. The founding team pairs one founder with early-childhood education and design depth with a technical founder who has prior startup exits. We have built our own production operating system, Znos.ai, and highly intelligent learning system which manages the entire brand from order management, operations, personalised designing and supply chain. Children's essentials are the first vertical. The system plays a pivotal role to scale personalisation. Gifting is the next market, where same-day personalized, made-to-order delivery is a real gap. The long-term company is a personalization platform, with kids essentials proving the model against steady, repeatable demand.
Business Model
Zootii runs a prepaid, personalisation model with positive working capital. Customers pay before we produce, so growth funds itself instead of consuming cash. We hold minimal finished-goods inventory. The economics are proven, not projected 110000+ orders till date. Revenue has grown 48.7L to 1.48 Cr to 2.56 Cr over three years, and the business is profitable from 1st year itself. Our CAC is 580-600 with gross margin upto 85% and CM1 67%. Our strategy is in three layers which sits on the D2C core. First, deepen the school-calendar relationship so the same parent reorders each season. Second, open lower-CAC offline and gifting channels, KidZania, Muso and premium stationary stores. Third, the platform layer, Znos.ai, which turns a customer's input into a print-ready, production-routed order
Customers
based in
India
Business
Modal Type
Maturity
Type of
Sales
B2C
Competitors
The kids' essentials category is large and now picking up. Cello did Rs 2,136 Cr in FY25 and Milton around Rs 2,314 Cr, both total-company, mass-market houseware giants selling standardized bottles and tiffins. Smiggle adds Rs 1,195 Cr of international, design-led appeal.
The funded D2C peers are closer to us. Rabitat, kids' drinkware and foodware, did ~Rs 28 Cr in FY25 and is now tracking toward a Rs 100 Cr run rate, having raised Rs 40 Cr from RPSG Capital and DSG. Basil is at ~Rs 36 Cr, backed by Prime Venture Partners and IIMA Ventures, targeting Rs 100 Cr by 2027. Both prove investors are actively funding this exact space.
Rosada is the closest to us: personalised kids' bags, made in-house, grown from Rs 48 L to Rs 6.5 Cr in three years, now backed on Shark Tank by Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar and Ritesh Agarwal, with Shilpa Shetty also in.
Teams
Apurva Mhatre
Cofounder
Adnyesh Dalpati
Cofounder
Tell us a bit about how founding team knows
each other.
Apurva and Adnyesh are a husband and wife team, married fourteen years. Apurva started Zootii when their first daughter was born, out of a problem she lived as a mother: kids' products that were poorly designed, hard to trust on quality, and easy to lose. Adnyesh joined after their second daughter, bringing two decades in tech and scaling companies. Both left senior roles to go all in. Apurva owns product, design and brand; Adnyesh owns technology and operations. Fourteen years building together
Why did you decide to start this
company?
Zootii began when Apurva became a mother and saw kids' essentials were poorly designed, hard to trust, and easily lost
Are all the founders full-time on this
project?
Yes
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