Inc42 D2C Summit 2026 Gathers 600+ Leaders

Inc42 held the seventh edition of its D2C & Retail Summit on August 19, 2026, at The Leela Ambience in Gurugram. The invite-only event gathered over 600 founders, CXOs, investors, and operators from more than 2,000 applications, with founders making up over 70% of attendees. This gathering is a key fixture in the industry calendar.

Under the theme 'Commerce In The Age Of AI & 10-Min Delivery,' the summit featured more than 15 sessions and 5 workshops. Over 60 speakers participated. More than half of the represented brands reported an annual recurring revenue exceeding 15 crore Indian rupees. Fashion, accessories, and food and beverage were the leading categories.

Summit Highlights and Speaker Insights

Keynote conversations featured prominent founders discussing scaling strategies. boAt cofounder Aman Gupta held an unfiltered AMA on building consumer brands and his new venture OFF/BEAT. Veeba founder and managing director Viraj Bahl discussed scaling the sauces company into a business valued at over 1,000 crore rupees.

In a fireside chat, Bahl commented on the role of quick commerce. "Quick commerce entered Veeba's journey relatively late but has since emerged as an important revenue channel and growth driver for the sauce and condiment maker," Bahl said. He argued that quick commerce can grow alongside other distribution channels.

Vedant Fashions chief revenue officer Vedant Modi explained how data and AI guide retail decisions for the Manyavar-Mohey brand. Modi stated that data helps determine product placement, inventory movement based on local demand, and premium pricing maintenance. "Our overall growth is being driven by our ability to turn data into decisions - from product design and inventory allocation to store-level performance," Modi said.

Other sessions included Snitch founder Siddharth Dungarwal on building a menswear brand and Agilitas Sports cofounder Abhishek Ganguly on India's sportswear opportunity. Investor panels featured figures like Manu Chandra of Sauce.vc and Archana Jahagirdar of Rukam Capital discussing the future of consumer capital.

Sponsor Participation and Roles

The event was supported by several presenting and powered-by partners who also contributed to the dialogue. Their roles and summit involvement are summarized below.

PhonePe Payment Gateway, the merchant payments arm of PhonePe, participated in a panel titled 'What Do India's Shopping Patterns Reveal About The Next Growth Wave?'. Business head Kamal Lochan Das pointed to a consumer shift from utility-led to discretionary spending in digital payments.

Shadowfax, a logistics company that listed on stock exchanges in January 2026, moderated a fireside session. Co-founder and CEO Abhishek Bansal led a conversation with Agilitas Sports co-founder Abhishek Ganguli titled 'The $1 Bn Sportswear Bet: Building India's Sportswear House.'

Glance, an AI-native platform from the InMobi Group, joined a fireside chat on agentic commerce. InMobi and Glance co-founder Piyush Shah explained the concept. Shah described a shift where consumers no longer navigate every purchase stage, with AI agents using preferences and context to recommend products.

Partner Contributions to Industry Dialogue

Gupshup, a conversational engagement platform, was represented by senior director Adwit Sharma on a panel about turning one-time buyers into repeat customers. Sharma spoke about using AI-led messaging for discovery, education, and loyalty beyond basic customer support.

Elements Wellness founder Rajesh Chandan joined a discussion on 'Growth Without The Burn: Engineering Profitable Growth.' He addressed moving from gross merchandise value-led growth to margin quality and building repeat customer cohorts as acquisition costs increase.

Nitro Commerce co-founder and CEO Umair Mohammad spoke on a panel questioning if quick commerce is a margin trap. Mohammad outlined three key metrics for brands on quick commerce platforms: availability, assortment, and advertising. He noted that returns on advertising spend should not be assessed in isolation. During the summit, Mohammad also launched Nitro Apps, an AI-powered platform for Shopify merchants.

The summit also featured 27 exhibition booths showcasing brands across various categories, including beauty, personal care, electronics, and home goods.