mCaffeine is the caffeine-led skincare and body-care brand of PEP Technologies Private Limited. This audit covers who owns it, who makes its products, and what they cost per millilitre, with prices checked on 3 September 2026.
mCaffeine is the coffee-led skincare brand of PEP Technologies Private Limited, a private, venture-backed company registered in Goa. On 3 September 2026 its face washes cost ₹2.99 to ₹3.49 a millilitre on its own site, and its under-eye cream ₹25.00 a millilitre.
Snapshot
- Legal entity
- PEP Technologies Private Limited, CIN U74999GA2015PTC015526
- Incorporated
- 14 September 2015, with ROC Goa; registered office at Panaji, Goa
- Ownership
- Private and venture-backed; no change of control on the record as at 3 September 2026
- Revenue
- ₹237.5 crore in FY2025, up 23%, with a net loss of ₹18 crore
- Advertising record
- Twelve outcomes, seven upheld, February 2022 to February 2026
- Price band
- ₹249 to ₹899, checked 3 September 2026 — at MRP, with no discounts
- Cruelty-free
- Listed in PETA’s own directory as Animal Test-Free and Vegan
How it started
PEP Technologies Private Limited was incorporated on 14 September 2015 with the Registrar of Companies in Goa, and its registered office sits in Panaji. The brand describes itself as founded in 2016. Both are true — a registered office and an operating address routinely differ, and a brand can be built before it sells anything. Its Mumbai marketer addresses are the ones printed on packs.
The first product was a caffeine shampoo, not the coffee face wash the brand is now known for. Contemporary reporting from January 2017 describes caffeine shampoos, then shower gels, then face washes; the coffee-first positioning came afterwards, and sales tripled within six months of the shift.
Who founded it depends on which document you read. A January 2017 account names two people, a 2025 trade profile names five, and the brand’s own About page names four. This page states those positions rather than picking one.
Money came in three rounds, the largest a ₹240 crore Series C closed on 29 March 2022 at a post-money valuation of ₹1,000 crore. ₹240 crore is the size of the round; ₹1,000 crore is the private valuation set in March 2022. Neither is revenue.
What it earned in the year to 31 March 2025 was ₹237.5 crore of operating revenue, up 23%, on a net loss of ₹18 crore — a loss cut by 81% from the year before. Those figures, reported by Entrackr from the company’s filings, cover the whole company, which now runs two brands: mCaffeine and Hyphen, a skincare brand launched in July 2023. The filings do not separately disclose revenue for each brand.
No change of control is on the record. Searches for an acquisition, a stake sale or a controlling investor were run on 3 September 2026 and found no announced transaction and no filing. One minority investor from the 2022 round is the Mariwala family’s private investment office — the family that founded and controls Marico, which separately owns Beardo. That is a family office rather than Marico itself, and no stake percentage for it is public.
- 2015Incorporated on 14 September, with ROC Goa
- 2016Caffeine shampoo first; the coffee range follows
- 2022₹240 crore Series C at a ₹1,000 crore valuation
- 2023Second brand, Hyphen, launched in July
- FY2025₹237.5 crore revenue, ₹18 crore loss
The 2022 valuation was a private mark; the revenue figure covers both brands.
What they actually make
mCaffeine’s own product pages give a marketer address and do not name a manufacturer. Three listings on a retailer that does show the full statutory block named three different third-party factories — in Aurangabad, in Baddi and in Shirpur — and none of them is mCaffeine. Three listings is a small sample and no general claim follows from it. No manufacturing licence number appeared on the pages and listings we read.
That split between the name on the front and the company that made it is the same one Bata India shows in footwear, where the listed Indian company and the global brand are separate things, and the opposite of Campus, which runs its own plants and says so.
The range covers face wash, scrub, mask, sunscreen, moisturiser, night cream, under-eye cream, body wash, lotion, soap, a roll-on and a perfume. The range on the brand’s own site on 3 September 2026 included no beard-care product. mCaffeine is a caffeine-led personal care brand with a men’s shelf rather than a men’s grooming specialist, and that matters before any price comparison.
What mCaffeine costs in India
Start with the list price. All prices below are the brand’s own list prices on mcaffeine.com on 3 September 2026, and on that day every single product carried an MRP identical to its selling price — no struck-through figure anywhere on the site. That is unusual and it is worth crediting. It also means there is one number to quote, not two.
- Coffee Face Wash, 100 ml
- ₹349 — ₹3.49 per ml
- Green Tea Under Eye Cream, 15 ml
- ₹375 — ₹25.00 per ml
- Gap
- 7.2× per millilitre
- Checked on
- 3 September 2026
₹375 for a pot does not read expensive. ₹375 for the volume a face wash charges ₹52 for does.
Its two face washes, per millilitre at list price on 3 September 2026:
| Product | Face wash pack | Per ml |
|---|---|---|
| mCaffeine, Coffee Face Wash | 100 ml at ₹349 | ₹3.49 |
| mCaffeine, Salicylic Acid Matcha Tea | 100 ml at ₹299 | ₹2.99 |
mCaffeine sells its face washes in 100 ml packs, so the per-millilitre figure is the one to set against any other pack you are considering. That is the same test our Metro audit applies to retail pricing, and it produces the same answer: the shelf price alone does not tell you what you pay per millilitre.
mCaffeine’s face washes come in 100 ml packs, at ₹2.99 to ₹3.49 a millilitre on 3 September 2026.
The rest of the range, per unit at list price on 3 September 2026: sunscreen and moisturiser ₹399 for 50 ml, or ₹7.98/ml; night cream ₹499 for 50 ml, or ₹9.98/ml; acne pads ₹399 for forty, or ₹9.98 a pad; the men’s perfume ₹899 for 100 ml, or ₹8.99/ml; body lotions ₹499 for 300 ml, or ₹1.66/ml; body washes from ₹1.33/ml. Those are list prices on one day on the brand’s own site, not the cheapest price available anywhere.
Who mCaffeine is actually for
The core face and body line sells at ₹249 to ₹499, which puts it in budget territory on the Indian shelf, and the body products are genuinely good value per millilitre. It suits someone who likes the smell and texture of the coffee range, buys direct, and treats the products as pleasant cosmetics.
It suits less well anyone who buys face care on per-millilitre value. On the pages read on 3 September 2026, the consumer-study percentages on the site (91%, 86%, 100%) give no panel size, date or named laboratory.
On 3 September 2026 every product on mcaffeine.com sold at its MRP. Prices move, so compare at least two sellers on the day you buy.
Reputation and record
Twelve outcomes sit on the Advertising Standards Council of India’s public complaint-outcomes database under the advertiser name PEP Technologies Private Limited, read on 3 September 2026. Seven concern product claims and five concern influencer disclosure. Seven were upheld. The earliest is 18 February 2022 and the most recent 18 February 2026.
Four of the upheld outcomes are product-claim matters. The council is the advertising industry’s own self-regulatory body rather than a statutory regulator, and it cannot impose a monetary sanction; its findings are decisions that an advertisement contravened Chapter I of its code, with a request to withdraw or modify it. Each ruling was made against a particular advertisement as it then stood, and none is a ruling on the brand’s web pages as they read today. Some of those four outcomes covered more than one claim, so the table lists the seven claims ruled on, in date order, with the date of each ruling.
| Claim held to contravene the code | Date |
|---|---|
| “Reduce Acne in Just 3 Uses” | 16 May 2024 |
| “12 Hrs UVA & UVB Protection” | 17 July 2024 |
| “Blue Light Protection – Indoor Protection from Digital Screen” | 17 July 2024 |
| “even tones the skin”, “treat hyperpigmentation” | 17 July 2024 |
| “Zero-plastic Footprint” | 17 July 2024 |
| “72 hrs moisturization”, recorded as a pack claim | 7 October 2024 |
| “Reduces Acne Marks & Blemishes” | 7 October 2024 |
Three product-claim complaints against mCaffeine were dismissed. On 1 June 2023 the council examined “SPF 30 and 50 and PA++ and PA+++” and “Upto 8 hours protection” on the Coffee Powder Sunscreen and held them not in contravention. On 6 May 2024 it examined “94% users saw reduced dark circles” on the under-eye cream and held the same. On 18 February 2026 it examined a body wash advertisement and dismissed that complaint.
On animal testing, mCaffeine’s About page carries a PETA vegan badge, and PETA’s own Beauty Without Bunnies directory carries the brand as “Animal Test-Free and Vegan”, stating that neither ingredients nor finished products are tested on animals and that suppliers follow the same standard. That listing covers an animal-testing and vegan pledge. Animal testing of cosmetics has in any case been illegal in India since 21 May 2014.
Buying it in India
mCaffeine is a domestic marketer selling mostly through its own site, so the import questions that dog Korean and American skincare do not arise. The useful checks here are about the pack and the arithmetic.
Divide by the net quantity
₹375 for 15 ml of under-eye cream is ₹25.00 a millilitre. ₹349 for 100 ml of face wash is ₹3.49. The pot and the tube look like the same purchase and are not.
Compare pack sizes, not prices
mCaffeine’s face washes come in 100 ml packs. A lower shelf price on a smaller pack can be a higher price for the product, so compare per millilitre.
Find the manufacturer’s name
The brand’s own pages give a marketer address only. Retail listings that show the full block name third-party factories. Read the box, not the banner.
Read the asterisk
On the Green Tea sunscreen, a footnote says to reapply every three to three and a half hours. Follow the footnote.
Ask what an “n” is
A consumer-study percentage means more with a panel size, a date and a named laboratory. Ask the brand for those details before relying on one.
One more habit worth carrying between shelves. A price far below a category’s norm is a warning rather than a bargain, which is the pattern our Sparx audit documents in footwear. mCaffeine’s prices run the other way, and on the day we checked it showed no struck-through MRP at all.
Common questions
Who owns mCaffeine?
PEP Technologies Private Limited, a private venture-backed company incorporated on 14 September 2015 with ROC Goa. Its investors include Amicus Capital, Paragon Partners, Singularity, Sharrp Ventures and RPSG Capital Ventures. No acquisition or change of control is on the record; searches run on 3 September 2026 found no announced transaction.
Is mCaffeine a ₹1,000 crore brand?
No. ₹1,000 crore was a post-money valuation set in a private round on 29 March 2022. Operating revenue for the whole company, both brands, was ₹237.5 crore in the year to 31 March 2025, on a net loss of ₹18 crore.
What has ASCI decided on mCaffeine’s ads?
Twelve outcomes sit on India’s advertising record between February 2022 and February 2026, seven of them upheld. Four upheld matters concern product claims and the others influencer disclosure; each ruling was about a specific advertisement. Three other product-claim complaints, including one on its sunscreen, were dismissed.
Is mCaffeine cruelty-free?
PETA’s own Beauty Without Bunnies directory lists mCaffeine as Animal Test-Free and Vegan, matching the badge on its About page. The listing covers an animal-testing and vegan pledge.
Does mCaffeine make its own products?
Its own product pages name only a marketer. On the three retail listings that showed a full manufacturer block, three different third-party factories appeared, in Aurangabad, Baddi and Shirpur, and none is mCaffeine. Three listings is a small sample, so read it as what those three declare.
How we research and verify brand audits: our methodology.
References
- Advertising Standards Council of India, complaint outcomes, searched 3 September 2026 — all twelve outcomes, their dates, their case numbers and every upholding and dismissal quoted here
- mCaffeine, Green Tea Sunscreen SPF 50 PA++++, 3 September 2026 — the reapplication footnote and the consumer-panel percentages
- mCaffeine, Green Tea Oil-Free Moisturizer with 5% Niacinamide, 3 September 2026 — price and product details
- mCaffeine, 2% Salicylic Acid Clear Skin Acne Pads, 3 September 2026 — the ₹399 price for forty pads
- mCaffeine home page, 3 September 2026 — range and brand description
- mCaffeine, About Us, 3 September 2026 — the four named founders and the PETA badge
- mCaffeine, all products, 3 September 2026 — every price and net quantity behind the per-millilitre figures, and the MRP-equals-selling-price finding
- PETA, Beauty Without Bunnies, mCaffeine entry, 3 September 2026 — the “Animal Test-Free and Vegan” listing and its supplier wording
- Corporate register listing, PEP Technologies Private Limited, 3 September 2026 — the CIN, the 14 September 2015 incorporation, ROC Goa and the Panaji registered office
- Entrackr, 21 March 2026 — FY2025 revenue of ₹237.5 crore, the ₹18 crore loss and the 81% loss reduction
- Entrackr, 29 March 2022 — the ₹240 crore Series C, its investors and the total raised
- Series C announcement, 29 March 2022 — the ₹1,000 crore post-money valuation
- YourStory, 5 January 2017 — the caffeine shampoo as the first product and the two founders named at the time
- Inc42, 26 August 2025 — the October 2016 brand date, the five founders named and the shift to coffee
- Tata 1mg, Coffee Face Wash listing, 3 September 2026 — one of the three listings showing a third-party manufacturer and the marketer block
- Sharrp Ventures, About, 3 September 2026 — the description of the fund as the Mariwala family’s investment office
Two things here are genuinely good and rarely found together. mCaffeine charges one price — every product on its site carried an MRP identical to its selling price on 3 September 2026. And its cruelty-free badge is backed: PETA’s own directory lists the brand as Animal Test-Free and Vegan.
The face care is where the value thins. Its face washes come in 100 ml packs at ₹2.99 to ₹3.49 a millilitre, and the under-eye cream runs to ₹25.00 a millilitre. For any skin claim, check the pack and ask the brand for its test report.
Buy the body range, where ₹1.33 a millilitre is good value; compare the ₹25.00-a-millilitre under-eye cream with alternatives before you pay for it.
