Hobby-based offline community platform Misfits raises Rs 5 crore in funding for further expansion

Misfits, the hobby-based offline community platform, has raised Rs 5 crore in a seed funding round led by Info Edge Ventures and Better Capital.

Founded in 2022 by IIT Kanpur graduates Shashwat Narhatiyar, Chaitanya Dhawan, Saurabh Sharma, and Shaswat Kar, the startup operates a platform where club members, club leaders, and venues unite to form healthy, thriving communities. Misfits claims that it has organically grown to over 20,000 members across 40+ active clubs, hosting more than 3,000 social meetups in Delhi NCR till date. 

"The seed of Misfits was born five years ago while doing a college assignment, driven by the belief that virtual social media platforms do not necessarily create meaningful human connections," said Shashwat Narhatiyar, Co-founder and CEO of Misfits.

"We saw the need for a space where people could truly connect through shared interests, beyond just online interactions. That vision led us to build Misfits, an offline, hobby-based community platform that nurtures real-world connections," Narhatiyar added.

Purpose of fundraising

With this fresh round of seed funding, Misfits plans to enhance its mobile platform to make easier for people to join, create and grow communities while expanding into new cities across urban India. Currently active in Gurugram, the startup plans to expand into other regions of Delhi NCR in the next three months.

“We started Misfits to solve a problem we faced ourselves,” said Chaitanya Dhawan, CMO of Misfits.

“Despite living closer than ever, people today feel increasingly disconnected. My co-founders and I experienced this firsthand, what started as casual meetups in our home in Gurgaon evolved into multiple thriving communities. Our growth is entirely organic, driven by people seeking genuine social connections," Dhawan added.

Investors comment

Rishabh Katiyar, Principal at Info Edge Ventures, said, “There is a clear need for such a platform, but this problem is still unsolved. The company has been witnessing strong organic traction and high customer NPS. Their unique model of enabling club leaders to run their own interest-based clubs is enabling Misfits to scale fast in a capital-efficient manner."

Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO, Better Capital said, "Misfits is the 'AirBnB of Human Connections" and we are excited to be early backers of a team that has built a unique solution around this vision."