Rara Barefoot launches India’s first range of barefoot sneakers

24 October 2025, Mumbai 

A homegrown performance footwear startup, Rara Barefoot has successfully launched India’s first line of barefoot sneakers after closing an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round of $500,000. The investment signals strong confidence in the brand's potential to redefine the Indian performance footwear market.

The funding round attracted a powerful mix of early-stage backers, including founders and senior operators from Zomato, Urban Company, Tata 1mg, Shyft, and HexaHealth, alongside Managing Directors and Partners from ChrysCapital and BCG.

The fresh capital will be used to fuel RARA's national D2C rollout, establish select offline retail partnerships, and scale up local manufacturing.

Varun Mimani and Manas Tripathi, Co-founders, emphasized, their goal is to integrate the company into the growing global barefoot footwear movement, which advocates for shoes that restore the body's natural biomechanics. The brand’s mission, ‘evolution in your size,’ is based on the philosophy of letting the foot perform as nature intended.

The design of Rara’s sneakers is closer to engineering than fashion, focusing on natural foot movement. It features a flat sole that allows the foot to land naturally, a wide toe box that space for natural toe spread and a flexible sole that bends easily with the foot's 33 joints, optimizing comfort and biomechanical performance.

All Rara sneakers are manufactured in India, using locally sourced, high-performance materials while adhering to global barefoot design principles. The founders spent two years meticulously perfecting the balance of flexibility, grip, and durability.

Investors view the barefoot category as having massive potential for growth and mass adoption.

Prashant Tandon, Co-founder & CEO of Tata 1mg, expressed confidence in the founders’ combination of ‘strong design thinking with operational excellence.’ He believes the team is well-equipped to build a scalable organization around customer insights, having infused "smart design into functional performance at highly competitive price points.

Akshat Babbar, Managing Director, ChrysCapital, predicts, Barefoot won't stay niche. It’s too logical once people experience it. He pointed to the strong "repeat intent and advocacy" from early adopters as a clear sign of where the market is headed.

The Indian sneaker market is expected to reach $4.665 billion by 2030 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.7 per cent, presenting a significant opportunity for performance-wellness hybrids. Having launched as a D2C brand on its official website, RARA plans to expand to select multi-brand stores and experience-driven offline pop-ups in major cities by 2026.

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