Mumbai-based lifestyle and fan merchandise startup The Souled Store has raised Rs 135 crore ($16.4 million approximately) in a Series C round led by Xponentia Capital Partners with participation from returning investors Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital Ventures . This marks Xponentia Capital’s largest investment in the consumer sector. The company will use the capital to expand into new categories and plans to launch over 100 stores across the country in the next two years. “We will be buying all the vested ESOPs as we want to make a habit of it. We have been selective about whom we have allotted ESOPs to and we would like our employees to see value in it,” Vedang Patel, Co-founder at The Souled Store. He did not disclose the size of the ESOP buyback.
