In 2019,Ankit Dassstarted working in his family's footwear business, a trade that makes shoes carrying other people's labels. Three years later he put his own on a pair. The flame logo went on the side, "Find Your Fire" went underneath, andZaydnbecame a brand rather than a production line. On20 August 2026that brand raised$681,000in a seed round led byInflection Point Ventures, with BeyondSeed and angel investors joining. It takes Zaydn's total funding to$788,000across two rounds, and follows a$107,000seed closed in October 2025 that priced the company at₹27 crore. The money goes into inventory and production capacity, working capital, performance marketing, and growth across Zaydn's own site and the marketplaces it sells through, which include Myntra, Amazon and Nykaa. Some is set aside for new product development, brand building, technology and hiring. Zaydn makes design-led sneakers for Gen-Z buyers at what it calls mass-premium prices, aiming at the gap between sneakers that look aspirational and sneakers people can actually afford. The product line reflects that: a wide toe box, lightweight TPR soles, dual cushioning, memory-foam insoles and breathable uppers, built for daily wear rather than sport. The company says it has grown from a bootstrapped brand into a₹10 crore plusannual business running at roughly₹1 crore a month, with an Instagram following of more than170,000built largely without paid reach. Co-founderVidushi Chaudhary, who serves as Chief Marketing Officer, is credited with taking that community from 30,000 to its current size. Go back to 2019, because that is where Zaydn's structural advantage comes from. Most Indian D2C sneaker brands design a shoe, send the spec to a third-party manufacturer, and wait. Dass walked into a footwear business that already existed, which is why Zaydn makes its own. In-house production is the difference between changing a sole and renegotiating a purchase order, and in a category where a design can go stale within a season, that turnaround is the asset. It is also what makes a spec sheet full of small comfort decisions economic to iterate on at all. Owning the line means owning the inventory too, which is the balance-sheet reality sitting behind the working capital this round is partly funding. The first round brought inBeyondSeed,Vinner VenturesandSpriha, closing in stages through to January 2026 at ₹23,920 a share. Zaydn Sneakers Private Limited was incorporated in Delhi in July 2024, with Dass and Chaudhary as directors from the start. Going into this round, Dass held87.84%of the company, with7.72%in an ESOP pool and the three earlier investors holding 2.24%, 0.93% and 0.37%. Chaudhary holds 0.89%. That founder stake will come down as the new money is allotted. Inflection Point Venturesis an angel platform rather than a fund in the ordinary sense, pooling cheques from a membership it puts at more than 9,600 CXOs, HNIs and professionals. It says it has deployed over ₹900 crore across 280-plus st
