Start-Up

All Stories

Start-Up 19-05-2022

BlissClub raises funds

19 May 2022, Mumbai:

In a new funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures and Elevation Capital, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) women’s activewear brand, BissClub raised funds worth $15 million.

ALSO READ Bliss Club: Fitness apparel crafted for the Indian woman

The funds were raised from prominent angel investors including Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy’s; Ghazal Alagh, Co-Founder, Mamaearth; Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, Co-Founders, Licious and Abhay Hanjura; Amar Nagarman, Former CEO, Myntra; Munish Varma and Sumer Juneja, Executives, SoftBank; Brennan Loh, Executive, Shopify, and fashion influencer Masoom Minawala.

RELEVANT NEWS Venture Intelligence report: Investments by PE-VCs registers grow in Jan 2022

Minu Margeret, Founder, and CEO, BlissClub says, the firm is on track to hit the Rs 100 crore of annual revenue run rate.

The firm generates over 90 percent of sales through its own platform while the rest comes from Amazon India and Myntra, she adds.

The company plans to make further investments in its technology, and expand into offline channels and research and development.

Join our community on Linkedin

Start-Up 19-05-2022

Amazon: Launches Smart Commerce To Help Offline Stores Setup Digital Store-fronts

19 May 2022, Mumbai:

Amazon to help store setup online outlets.
Amazon has launched a new initiative called smart commerce that will help offline stores set up their own digital store-fronts in addition to selling on its India marketplace.

ALSO READ Amazon India reaches ten lakh sellers

This will be similar to Canada's Shopify.

Amazon's initiative to help kiranas open e-store fronts offer firms expertise in logistics and payments.

RELEVANT NEWS ONDC: Flipkart, Amazons Of The World Look @ Joining

Amit Agarwal Senior VP India and emerging markets, Amazon.

We remain committed to our pledge to digitize 1 crore small businesses in India by 2025 and are super excited by the possibilities unlocked by smart commerce to accelerate progress Agarwal said.

Join our community on Linkedin
CREDITS: ET Dt 19-05-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff).

Start-Up 19-05-2022

Amazon: Launches Smart Commerce To Help Offline Stores Setup Digital Store-fronts

FirstCry To Defer IPO Plans

16 May 2022, Mumbai:

Firstcry halts IPO plans as volatility continues.

DRHP filing is deferred by at least a month or two.

ALSO READ FirstCry goes ahead with IPO plans

May recalibrate issue size and valuation it would seek.

RELEVANT NEWS NIIF-FirstCry proposed deal

E-Commerce firm Firstcry will delay its planned one billion initial public offering by a few months according to people in the know who said the cautious approach by Softbank backed e-tailer followed the muted response last week to new economy issues, like that of logistics player Delhivery as well as broader headwinds in global markets.

The Pune base etailer had finalized plans to file its draft IPO paper this month but is pulling back on the advice of its investors and bankers sources said.

Join our community on Linkedin
CREDITS: ET Dt 16-05-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff).

Start-Up 16-05-2022

$15+ million financing program for SME apparel manufactures

13 May 2022, Mumbai:

Fashinza announces over $15 million financing program for SME apparel manufacturers, in partnership with Stride One, SaraLoan, and other fintech lenders.

ALSO READ Fashinza: Manufacturing Made Effortless

Fashinza, a B2B, new-age product development and production management platform enabling fashion brands and manufacturers to produce better, together, has joined hands with Stride One, SaraLoan, and other fintech lenders to empower apparel manufacturing SMEs with an over $15 million supplier-financing program.

The lack of requisite working capital has been a significant challenge and a roadblock for SME suppliers and manufacturers in fulfilling large orders from big fashion labels. The supplier finance program from Fashinza and the fintech lenders will help SMEs to receive their payments on due dates or early payments.

RELEVANT NEWS Start-up in India Fashinza announces a Middle East growth plan

This will help SMEs scale their business without capital limitations. The supplier-financing program, offered by Fashinza in partnership with Stride One, SaraLoan (Blacksoil’s fintech arm), and other fintech lenders, will help manufacturers to focus on production without financial stress, and enable brands to focus on their operations and sales without their cash getting stuck in production.

Also, the long-term benefits for SMEs are the ability to scale up capacity and get new opportunities to grow their business faster.

According to Abhishek Sharma, Co-Founder and COO, Fashinza: “India’s contribution to apparel manufacturing and the global fashion industry is undisputed.

While there is immense scope to grow for SMEs, the availability of working capital remains a challenge. Our financing program for SMEs is an enabler and is empowering small manufacturers.

Join our community on Linkedin

Start-Up 13-05-2022

$15+ million financing program for SME apparel manufactures

Piyush Goyal chairs meeting of National Startup Advisory Council

18 May 2022, Mumbai:

Minister urges NSAC to focus on tier-2 and tier-3 cities for VC funding, capacity building and awareness generation on government schemes that promote startups.

Council deliberates on protecting ownership of startups with original promoters, incorporating in India, listing in India, and developing innovation hubs.

ALSO READ

Minister launches NavIC Grand Challenge aimed at promoting the adoption of NavIC is the geo-positioning solution for digital Aatmanirbharta.

The meeting was attended by key stakeholders, officials, and existing startups in the country.

RELEVANT NEWS

It is a one of its kind congregation wherein the policy-making process is driven as part of a collaboration between all the key stakeholders of the Startup ecosystem.

During the course of the meeting, the members also shared many interesting insights and views about the startup ecosystem and gave recommendations as to how the ecosystem can be strengthened further through various initiatives and programmes.

Join our community on Linkedin

CREDITS: PIB (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff).

Start-Up 18-05-2022

Piyush Goyal chairs meeting of National Startup Advisory Council

Nykaa Fashion’s European label teams up with Mira Rajput

14 May 2022, Mumbai:

Nykaa Fashion’s European label, NA-KD has teamed up with celebrity influencer Mira Rajput Kapoor for three different collections.

As part of the collaboration, Nykaa has launched a campaign titled #SelectedbyMira. The MIRA x NA-KD collection was launched on Nykaa’s official site on May 11, 2022.

ALSO READ Alaya Furniturewalla has been named as a brand ambassador for Nykaa Fashion

A multi-brand e-commerce fashion offering, Nykaa Fashion houses 1,350 brands and over 1.8 million SKUs across women, men, kids, luxe, and home categories to appeal to every consumer. It offers brands that include Indian and western wear, footwear, bags, jewellry, accessories, lingerie, athleisure, sleepwear, home décor, bath, bed, kitchen, and more.

RELEVANT NEWS NYKAA: India set to become 5th largest beauty market

It has built a portfolio of seven consumer brands – Gajra Gang, Nykd by Nykaa, Pipa Bella, Twenty Dresses, Likha, IYKYK, Kica, and RSVP.

Kapoor says, the brand’s aesthetic mirrors her beliefs of balancing a lifestyle and promising an environmentally conscious range.

Join our community on Linkedin

Start-Up 14-05-2022

Nykaa Fashion’s European label teams up with Mira Rajput

ONDC: Flipkart, Amazons Of The World Look @ Joining

12 May 2022, Mumbai:

Open network for Digital commerce suddenly arouses a lot of excitement within The E-Commerce space.
Flipkart, RIL, and Amazon ONDC is a decentralized platform that connects buyers and sellers.

Can deliver products via their logistics partners.

ALSO READ E-commerce platform faces tough competition
It aims to enable online commerce for small sellers and businesses.

The network will be open to the wider public in Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Delhi, Bhopal, and Shillong by the first week of June.

RELEVANT NEWS New e-commerce players fail to display 'Country of Origin’ on products: Report

Likely to be up and running in 100 cities by August in the entire country buyer.
Logistics companies EKART, DUNZO sign up on platform; Phone pe in final stages of integration.

The bigger eCommerce players have indicated to ONDC that they will support it.

Join our community on Linkedin
CREDITS: ET Dt 12-05-2022/ET Research and ONDC research strategy paper (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff).

Start-Up 12-05-2022

ONDC: Flipkart, Amazons Of The World Look @ Joining

ONDC is working on a framework for an in-house settlement system

18 May 2022, Mumbai:

The open network for digital commerce (ONDC ). The government-backed initiative aimed at curbing digital monopolies is working on a framework for an in-house settlement system.

ALSO READ ONDC: Flipkart, Amazons Of The World Look @ Joining

According to its CEO MP Koshy.

koshy expects that it will bring in 'efficiency in processing' payments, especially for new entities. It is said to be ready in a month's time.

RELEVANT NEWS E-commerce platform faces tough competition

A committee with representatives from ONDC, Bombay stock exchange, and National stock exchange as well as from the national payment corporation of India (NPCI) and a few leading banks are evaluating the regulatory framework for the service which can be offered by any service provider on the network.

ONDC which is being pitched as a solution to make the E-Commerce platform agnostic and therefore break the dominance of large etailers.

Join our community on Linkedin

CREDITS: ET Dt 18-05-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff).

Start-Up 18-05-2022

ONDC is working on a framework for an in-house settlement system

E-commerce majors Flipkart, Amazon to join ONDC

14 May 2022, Mumbai:

Ecommerce majors including Flipkart, Reliance Retail, and Amazon plan to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which plans to soon start tis pilot program to on-board kiranas and small and medium businesses in Bengaluru and four other cities.

ALSO READ ONDC: Flipkart, Amazons Of The World Look @ Joining

Flipkart’s logistics arm Ekart and Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo have already integrated with ONDC for logistics services while PhonePe, which is also owned by Flipkart and Walmart, is joining the network and is in advanced stages of integration, these people said.

Still, at a nascent stage, ONDC is being pitched as a solution to break the dominance of large e-commerce firms like Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon, and others in India. The platform will enable all the buyers in the network to be discoverable to all the sellers, says ThampyKoshy, CEO, of ONDC.

Koshy said the network aims to scale its presence in about 100 cities by August and it will also be opened to the wider public in five cities — Bengaluru, New Delhi, Coimbatore, Bhopal, and Shillong — where the pilot is underway.

RELEVANT NEWS E-commerce platform faces tough competition

The network is currently in the “beta testing” phase with just five sellers onboard and a limited set of buyers from five cities.

The network aims to on-board small sellers and some expect it to have an impact on e-commerce similar to what the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) had on digital payments. It is a “decentralised” platform without the need for customers and sellers to be on one platform.

ONDC is also educating key stakeholders, including online merchants, that visibility on the network won’t be influenced by certain algorithms by e-commerce platforms — a growing concern among online sellers. Ecommerce firms maintain their algorithms do not treat sellers in a discriminatory manner while favoring others.

Join our community on Linkedin

Start-Up 14-05-2022

E-commerce majors Flipkart, Amazon to join ONDC

Nykaa Fashion launches womenswear brand Little Mistress

10 May 2022, Mumbai:

Multi-brand fashion retailer Nykaa Fashion has launched the UK-based womenswear brand Little Mistress on its platform.

It is a specialist in party wear, fast fashion brand Little Mistress has launched a collection of bridesmaid dresses on Nykaa Fashion in time for the summer wedding season.

ALSO READ NYKAA: India set to become 5th largest beauty market

The brand has launched these dresses in a variety of color schemes. They have been designed to match the bride’s wedding color scheme and the other bridesmaids.

The elegant yet paired-down dresses have been designed with monochrome designs and minimalist details.

They aim to enable the bridesmaids to express their personalities while remaining on the theme.

RELEVANT NEWS Startups 2021: Bought back historic high ESOPS

The first fast-fashion brand to be launched by the namesake group, Little Mistress was awarded the Drapers award for Young Fashion Brand of the Year in both 2012 and 2013 as well as the Independent Young Fashion Brand of the Year in 2013.

The Little Mistress Group launched its second brand Paper Dolls in 2014 followed by its third brand named Girls on Film.

Join our community on Linkedin

CREDITS: As per a Fashion Network report.

Start-Up 10-05-2022

Fashinza Raises $100 Million Series B Funding

17 May 2022, Mumbai:

Fashinza Raises $100 Million Series B Funding Led by Prosus, Westbridge Capital.

Fashinza, the AI-driven B2B marketplace and real-time global supply chain for fashion brands and retailers, today announced it has raised a $100 million in Series B funding round led by Prosus Ventures (f.k.a. Naspers Ventures) and Westbridge along with participation from existing investors Accel, Elevation, and DisruptAD.

ALSO READ Fashinza: Manufacturing Made Effortless

The round also saw participation from angel investors Naval Ravikant, Jeff Fagnan, Jake Zeller, Nivi, and Nitesh Banta. The funding round is a combination of equity and debt financing. Fashinza will utilize the funds towards creating a sustainable supply chain for the global fashion industry and in expanding the company’s presence globally.

This includes monetizing fintech offerings, expanding into raw material procurement, helping Indian SME apparel manufacturers with supply chain financing, creating a sustainable (i.e. net positive) supply chain by 2030 and Industry 4.0 solutions for SMB manufacturers.

RELEVANT NEWS Fashinza and BlackSoil have teamed together to offer finance to small Indian businesses

In the past 12 months, and in the middle of a global pandemic, Fashinza grew the business 10x crossing $150 million in annualized GMV run rate. The company also reduced minimum order units to as low as 50 and reduced design to delivery TATs by 50% in a single year.

Fashinza has a roster of over 250 manufacturers in India, Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam that currently serves 200+ brands across 6 countries, including the United States, Canada, UAE, and India. “We are excited to expand our global presence and offer fast and sustainable tech-based supply chain solutions -- especially to our customers in North America.

Our goal to help our partner brands and manufacturers work and thrive with an agile supply chain that benefits all is now a reality and already increasingly impacting our customers’ lives,” adds Pawan Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Fashinza.

Join our community on Linkedin

Start-Up 17-05-2022