Vedant Padia, CEO, Pexpo, is quietly building scale by obsessing over fundamentals: listening to consumers, refining products and letting performance speak louder than noise. From a ₹20 crore business in 2020 to a projected ₹250 crore close this year, Pexpo’s growth story has unfolded with marketplace-led performance marketing, product education, movie associations like that with Dhurandhar and a deep belief that relevance is earned, not manufactured.
In this conversation with IMPACT, Padia reflects on how customer feedback has shaped everything from distribution to design, why cultural associations from cinema to cricket have played a strategic role in building awareness, and how in 2026 marketing is poised to become the biggest growth lever for the brand’s next phase.
Q] Can you walk us through the revenue journey so far, year-wise growth, current turnover, and how much of this is driven by marketing?
Most of our marketing efforts have been focused on marketplaces, largely through performance marketing. However, the real reason behind our growth has been our approach to understanding customer demand and market needs in a very specific and focused way. We have taken customer feedback very seriously and used it to make changes across our product, distribution, and overall offering. That has played a significant role in driving growth. To give you a sense of scale, we were around ₹20 crore in revenue in 2020, and this year we are set to close at approximately ₹250 crore. That translates into nearly 10x growth over five years.
That said, we still see ourselves as being at a very nascent stage as a brand. There is a constant need to evolve with consumer needs. In that context, speciality hydration has emerged as the next phase of our product development. Going forward, our marketing efforts will be aligned towards addressing specific consumer needs, across different use cases, lifestyles, and moments in their everyday lives.
Q] Currently, what percentage of your revenue is invested in marketing?
Performance marketing is where most of our marketing efforts are concentrated, primarily on marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. This accounts for roughly 15–17% of our overall revenue. That essentially covers the core marketing spend. Beyond this, we invest significantly in product-led education, both for retailers and end consumers. These initiatives focus on helping people understand how to use our products correctly and how specific products can be used more effectively. Education is something we prioritise consistently.
Q] Let’s talk about the recent Durandhar campaign. What consumer insight led you to lean into pop culture? Was there any specific data or research?
The decision was rooted in what we stand for as a brand: durability, performance-led products, and being time-tested. That’s exactly what we try to deliver to our consumers. We felt Durandhar aligned well with these values, especially because of the energy and the presence of time-tested actors associated with the film. They bring a certain credibility and strength that resonated with our brand philosophy.
Another important factor was that our product is made in India, competing against several Chinese alternatives in the market. Durandhar, being a nationalistic film centred around Indian spies and their service to the country, carried a strong emotional connect. In a similar way, we believe that putting Indian-made steel bottles in the hands of Indian consumers contributes meaningfully to the country by creating employment, driving investments, and offering products that are genuinely built for consumer needs.
In contrast to products that are simply imported, branded, and sold, we believe we’ve brought a meaningful change to the market with a durable, time-tested offering. That’s why associating with Durandhar felt like the right choice, it helped us express the emotion and values that are deeply embedded in our product and our brand.
Q] You’re the official water bottle partner for the RCB team? Why RCB? What was the aim behind this collaboration?
Yes, we are the official water bottle partner for the RCB team. Water bottles naturally connect with fitness, hydration, and sports, so the association fits very well with what our product stands for. From a marketing perspective, it allows us to reinforce our focus on hydration, outdoor activity, fitness, and gym culture.
The decision to partner with RCB was driven by the team’s vibe and the culture they bring to the field. Even without having won previous editions at the time, the energy that Virat Kohli and the team brought to the game was remarkable. The passion and fanaticism of the RCB fan base also stood out to us. We felt aligned with what the team stood for, and in hindsight, the timing also worked well, as the team eventually went on to win. That reinforced our belief that this was the right association, made at the right moment.
Q] You’ve also run other campaigns, seasonal initiatives, Gen Z-focused efforts, and region-specific plays. Which has worked the best for you?
We’ve done several movie associations as part of our broader marketing approach. Currently, we’re associated with ‘Tu Mera, Main Teri, Main Teri, Tu Mera’. Before that, we partnered with ‘Mastiii 4’, and earlier with a film called ‘Thamma’. Movie associations are something we’re increasingly exploring with our bottles. We believe that Bollywood and cricket are two cultural pillars that people across India instantly relate to, and they play a strong role in building awareness for a brand like Pexpo. Beyond this, our digital marketing team is very strong. We work extensively with influencers on Instagram.
In terms of outcomes, the RCB association has been one of our biggest and most fruitful campaigns over the last two years. It helped us build significant awareness, and people strongly associate us with RCB because of the continuity and consistency of that campaign. For us, it was a clear case of taking the right step at the right time, and it contributed positively to both awareness and availability in the market.
Q] How do you divide your marketing spends between digital and traditional channels? Among options like q-commerce platforms, influencers, and marketplaces, which do you prioritise more?
Digital is our highest area of spend. Around 80% of our marketing investment goes into digital channels, including influencers, marketplaces, q-commerce platforms, and various other digital media formats. This is currently our primary focus. Offline channels and outdoor advertising are areas we have only recently begun to explore. Based on the outcomes, we will decide how to refine our approach and scale these efforts further over time. For now, digital remains the dominant and most important medium in our marketing mix.
Q] Pexpo operates across multiple price points and categories. How do you balance affordability with margins?
What we focus on is delivering the right product at the right price, ensuring that customers receive genuine value. Manufacturing in India in a highly efficient manner plays a key role in this. At the same time, learning best practices and production techniques from outside India and incorporating that training has helped us reduce costs while maintaining quality. We constantly work on improving our products in terms of quality, performance, and overall value. Our effort is to strike the right balance, maintaining efficient production processes and a strong cost structure, while continuously enhancing the product’s identity, performance, and quality to meet evolving consumer expectations. Customer expectations naturally rise over time, and they seek better products with each upgrade. As production volumes increase, efficiency improves as well, which allows us to sustain the right value-based price points while remaining profitable.
Q] As we come to the end of 2025, looking ahead to the next year, what are the concrete goals Pexpo is building towards, whether in terms of revenue targets, profitability, or market expansion? If possible, could you share this in numbers?
Marketing will be the most important driver in our next phase of growth. While we are still in the process of defining very concrete numbers for the coming year, we are clearly looking at a growth of around 30-40% over our current performance.
At this point, the biggest factor for us is marketing, specifically, reaching the right audience with the right product. Our portfolio has a very wide relevance: from a two-month-old toddler using a steel feeding bottle, to consumers aged 60 or 70 who are looking for warm water solutions during colder months. Because of this, product relevance and specialisation become extremely important in how we market and reach our target group. Our TG is very large and diverse, and that means our communication, detailing, and overall marketing approach have to be carefully aligned. This is something we are constantly working on. Going forward, our focus will be on executing this efficiently while building the kind of brand we want Pexpo to become.
