Mokobara is the Indian luggage brand people say does not advertise. Last year it spent Rs 46 crore on advertising.
Mokobara marketing is usually told as a pure word of mouth story. The filings say something different. Mokobara spent Rs 46 crore on advertising in FY25, on operating revenue of Rs 230 crore, and its ad spend rose in both of the last two years. So the “no marketing” version is wrong. What is right, and more useful, is the ratio. Mokobara has held advertising at about a fifth of revenue for two years while revenue nearly doubled each year. That is what word of mouth actually looks like in a set of accounts.
THE VERDICT: MIXED
The “Mokobara does no marketing” story is false. It spent Rs 46 crore on advertising in FY25. But the thing people are sensing is real: the ad spend held at about a fifth of revenue while the business doubled. The marketing is disciplined. The profit and loss account is not, yet.
What is the story people tell about Mokobara?
The story goes like this. Two ex-Urban Ladder colleagues start a luggage brand in 2020. The bags look better than anything else on the shelf. People post them. The bags sell themselves.
It is a good story. Parts of it are true.
Sangeet Agrawal and Navin Parwal did found Mokobara in 2020, and both did come from Urban Ladder. The bags do look different from the rest of the shelf, which is an opinion, but not a controversial one.
One thing needs saying plainly. I could not find Mokobara itself claiming it does no paid marketing. That claim lives in commentary written about the brand, not in anything the company has published. So this is a check on a popular story, not an accusation against a company.
of Mokobara’s FY25 revenue went on advertising. It was 19.3% in FY24. The share barely moved while revenue nearly doubled.
Our arithmetic on figures reported by Entrackr, 17 Dec 2024 and 2 Feb 2026.
What do Mokobara’s filings actually say?
Mokobara’s operating revenue went from Rs 12.18 crore in FY22 to Rs 230 crore in FY25. That is close to nineteen times in three years, on our arithmetic.
Advertising went up in both years we have figures for. Rs 22.64 crore in FY24. Rs 46 crore in FY25, roughly double.
Neither number is anywhere near zero.
Mokobara operating revenue, FY22 to FY25
Rs crore
Source: Entrackr, 26 Feb 2024 (FY22 and FY23), 17 Dec 2024 (FY24) and 2 Feb 2026 (FY25), reporting Mokobara’s annual filings.
The story vs the filings
The story people tell
- Mokobara does no paid marketing
- The design sells itself
- It grew purely on word of mouth
What the filings show
- Rs 46 crore of advertising in FY25
- Rs 22.64 crore of advertising in FY24
- Ad spend rose in both years, roughly doubling
Why does the ad ratio matter more than the ad budget?
A big ad number on its own tells you almost nothing. A growing brand should spend more in rupees each year. The question is whether it has to spend more per rupee of sales.
Mokobara’s answer is no, and that is the finding.
In FY24 it spent Rs 22.64 crore on ads to make Rs 117.4 crore. That is 19.3 paise of advertising per rupee of revenue. In FY25 it spent Rs 46 crore to make Rs 230 crore. That is 20 paise. The ratio barely moved while the business doubled.
Compare that with Honasa Consumer, the parent of Mamaearth. Honasa spent Rs 743.65 crore on advertising in FY25, which its own reporting puts at 36% of revenue. Its profit still fell 34% that year.
Advertising as a share of revenue
Paise of advertising per rupee of operating revenue
Mokobara percentages are our own arithmetic on the advertising and revenue figures reported by Entrackr (17 Dec 2024 and 2 Feb 2026). Honasa Consumer’s 36% is as reported by Storyboard18, 2 Sep 2025.
A brand with real pull does not stop advertising. It stops needing to advertise more.
So the word of mouth is real. It just does not show up as a zero. It shows up as a number that refuses to climb.
This is the quiet version of marketing winning, and it keeps happening. Razorpay grew 65% on a deliberately boring playbook while louder brands spent more to stand still.
THE TELL
Look at the share, not the budget. Mokobara’s advertising was 19.3% of revenue in FY24 and 20% in FY25, while revenue went from Rs 117.4 crore to Rs 230 crore. Honasa Consumer, the parent of Mamaearth, spent 36% of revenue on ads in FY25 and still watched its profit fall 34%. A flat ratio through a doubling is the only proof of word of mouth that shows up in a set of accounts.
What did going offline cost Mokobara?
Here is the part the fan version leaves out. The year Mokobara scaled, its maths got worse.
In FY24 the company spent Rs 1.05 to earn a rupee. In FY25 it spent Rs 1.09. Net loss went from Rs 4.24 crore to Rs 10 crore. EBITDA margin went from -0.92% to -6.52%.
Total expenses roughly doubled, from Rs 123.3 crore to Rs 251 crore. Revenue grew from Rs 117.4 crore to Rs 230 crore. Costs grew a little faster than sales, so the loss widened.
The money did not go on ads. It went on the physical build: employee costs of Rs 25 crore, logistics of Rs 11 crore and warehousing of Rs 8 crore in FY25. This is the same trade Ather made when it doubled its experience centres.
What is the best case for Mokobara?
THE BEST CASE FOR MOKOBARA
Holding advertising at a fifth of revenue while revenue nearly doubles, two years running, is genuinely hard. Most Indian D2C brands buy their growth and the bill keeps climbing: Honasa spent 36% of revenue on advertising in FY25 and its profit still fell 34%. Mokobara’s widening loss is mostly the cost of stores, warehouses and staff, and those are assets that lower the cost of selling later. Advertising buys nothing that lasts. The company also holds Rs 72.5 crore of cash against a Rs 10 crore loss, so it can fund the build for years without raising again. Read that way, FY25 is a brand paying for its own distribution while its marketing stays cheap.
So what is the verdict on Mokobara marketing?
Mixed, and the mix is the point.
The “Mokobara does no marketing” line is false. It spends real money on ads and always has. Anyone repeating that line has not looked.
But the thing people are sensing when they say it is real. A brand that can double its sales without buying more attention per rupee has genuine pull. Very few Indian D2C brands can do that. Most sound identical and buy their growth.
The open question is the loss. Rs 10 crore is small against Rs 72.5 crore of cash. It is still a loss that tripled in the year the ratio held. The marketing discipline is proven. The retail discipline is not, yet.
What can you use from this?
Track marketing as a share of revenue across years, not as a budget line. A brand with real pull holds the share flat while sales double. If your ad spend has to grow faster than your revenue, the product is doing none of the selling.
When people say a brand “doesn’t advertise”, it usually means the advertising does not look like advertising to them. Mokobara spent Rs 46 crore last year.
One more thing worth knowing. Mokobara raised $12 million in a Series B led by Peak XV Partners in February 2024, at a post-money valuation of about Rs 700 crore. Total raised is about $23.6 million. For a brand doing Rs 230 crore of revenue, that is not much outside money. Zerodha built a bigger business on even less, and it is the only Indian brand I have checked that genuinely spends near nothing on ads.
FAQ
Does Mokobara do paid marketing?
Yes. Mokobara spent Rs 46 crore on advertising in FY25 and Rs 22.64 crore in FY24, according to Entrackr’s reading of its annual filings. The idea that it does zero paid marketing is not supported by the accounts.
How much does Mokobara spend on advertising as a share of revenue?
About 20 paise per rupee of revenue. In FY25 that was Rs 46 crore of ads on Rs 230 crore of revenue, and in FY24 it was Rs 22.64 crore on Rs 117.4 crore. Both percentages are our own arithmetic on the reported figures.
Is Mokobara profitable?
No. Mokobara reported a net loss of Rs 10 crore in FY25, up from Rs 4.24 crore in FY24. It spent Rs 1.09 to earn each rupee of operating revenue in FY25.
How much has Mokobara raised and who owns it?
About $23.6 million in total. The $12 million Series B in February 2024 was led by Peak XV Partners, with Sauce VC and Saama Capital participating, at a post-money valuation of roughly Rs 700 crore.
Is Mokobara’s word of mouth real?
The numbers say yes, in the only way a set of accounts can show it. Mokobara’s revenue nearly doubled in FY24 and again in FY25 while its advertising stayed at about a fifth of revenue. A brand with no pull has to raise that share to keep growing.
Want the analysis no agency would publish? Subscribe.
This post is analysis and opinion based on figures reported from Mokobara’s annual filings by named publications, cited above and dated. Nothing here alleges wrongdoing by Mokobara Designs, its founders, its investors, Honasa Consumer or any individual. Advertising spend is a normal and lawful business cost. This is not investment advice.
Sources: Financials reported from Mokobara’s annual filings by Entrackr, 2 February 2026 (FY25 revenue, advertising, expenses, loss, EBITDA margin, ROCE, cash) and Entrackr, 17 December 2024 (FY24 revenue, advertising, expenses, loss). Funding, valuation and founder details from Entrackr, 26 February 2024. Honasa Consumer’s FY25 advertising spend and its 36% share of revenue from Storyboard18, 2 September 2025. Note on one figure: Entrackr’s FY25 report describes the advertising rise as 88%, while the two absolute figures it has published (Rs 22.64 crore and Rs 46 crore) imply about 103%. We have used the absolute figures throughout and done the percentages ourselves.
