Luxury resort and swimwear brand Verandah has raised $1.1 million (a little over Rs 8 crore) in its Seed funding round from Mike Novogratz, Chief Executive Officer, Galaxy Investment Partners, Neeraj Arora, former Chief Business Officer, WhatsApp, Lydia Jett, partner, SoftBank Vision Fund, PDS Multinational Fashions’ venture portfolio–PDS Ventures, and other anonymous investors across Mumbai and New York, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its product range and global market penetration, Verandah said.
Founded in 2012 by Anjali Patel Mehta, the Mumbai-based company, which initially was a local brand, now has partners and teams in New York and Italy. The brand also recently launched its global direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce site in the United States this month. The company makes boho-luxe, chic, fuss-free print and story-based travel separates, using artisanal fabrics and hand embroidery from India, the statement said.
“We are also excited to move online and offer our customers a seamless international retail experience. With strong partnerships and teams in place and a sustainably minded business, we look forward to opening our doors in key geographies with increased capital and a growing customer base,” said Mehta.
StarClinch
Live concerts and performances booking platform StarClinch has raised Rs 1.75 crore in its Seed funding round, led by early-stage micro venture capital (VC) fund, Artha Venture Fund, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Nitish Mittersain, Founder and Managing Director, Nazara Technologies, also participated in the round. The company will use the funds to onboard new artists over the next 12 months, and is aiming seven-fold growth during the period. StarClinch will also use the funds to expand its footprint and enhance its technology platform, the statement said.
Founded by Varun Agarwal in 2018, the Delhi-based company claims to have more than 15,000 artists on its platform, and conducted bookings of over 6,500 shows on its technology platform.
“We have been introducing solutions to bridge the demand-supply gap, yield value-centric results for our talent and clients. Owing to the significant talent pool in tier X towns and cities, we have our eyes peeled for budding talent from all corners of the country,” said Agarwal.
StarClinch is Artha Venture Fund’s 14th investment, and 23rd funding from the Rs 225 crore micro-VC fund, which it recently closed.
“The pandemic has provided the perfect environment for a paradigm shift to a $12 billion industry. It is time for this gig industry to reorganise itself and accept formal market practices. Therefore, we chose StarClinch because of Varun’s singular focus on becoming a trust layer for a fragmented industry,” said Anirudh Damani, Managing Partner, Artha Venture Fund.
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