Bengaluru | July 22, 2025 — Escape Plan, a Bengaluru-based lifestyle startup, has raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Jungle Ventures through its First Cheque@Jungle initiative, alongside participation from Fireside Ventures. This funding marks a strategic milestone in the company’s pursuit to build India’s first design-driven platform for modern travel accessories.
Founded by Abhinav Pathak, former founder of Perpule (acquired by Amazon), and Abhinav Zutshi, a retail veteran with experience at Big Bazaar, Bestseller Group, Forever 21, and Landmark Group, Escape Plan is reimagining the travel gear category by bringing together style, functionality, and rapid access.
Tapping Into a $5B Market Opportunity India’s travel and luggage sector, currently valued at approximately $3.5 billion, is expected to surpass $5 billion by 2028. “We’re building a curated, design-first platform to meet the evolving expectations of urban and mobile Indian consumers,” said Abhinav Pathak, CEO of Escape Plan. “Travel isn’t occasional anymore—it’s a lifestyle. Yet, the gear hasn’t kept pace with that shift.”
Aggressive Expansion Strategy:
The startup plans to deploy the capital across three core areas:
- Launch 100+ offline stores nationwide over the next 18–24 months
- Integrate with quick-commerce and travel discovery platforms for 1-hour delivery in key cities
- Accelerate customer acquisition and product development to meet rising demand
Tech Meets Retail Depth:
Pathak and Zutshi bring a rare dual lens—startup agility and retail infrastructure know-how—to craft a category-defining brand for India’s urban travellers. “There’s a significant whitespace in Indian lifestyle retail. The Escape Plan founders are building at the intersection of design, travel, and tech,” said Rishab Malik, Partner at Jungle Ventures.
Lifestyle Gear for Instant-Access Consumers:
“Escape Plan is creating a lifestyle movement,” said Vinay Singh, Partner at Fireside Ventures. “With an omni-channel model, smart distribution strategy, and highly relevant brand proposition, they’re poised to scale both nationally and globally.”
Escape Plan’s multi-brand retail ecosystem features stylish and functional gear—luggage, slings, duffels, pouches, backpacks, and modular accessories—delivered through a blend of physical stores, QR kiosks, and web-first shopping experiences. With rollouts planned across Tier 1 to Tier 3 cities, the brand is gearing up to become the go-to travel companion for India’s new-age consumers.
