Purple Panda Fashions Pvt. Ltd, which runs lingerie retailer Clovia, has raised $10 million in a fresh round of funding led by Singapore-based private equity firm AT Capital, a top Clovia official said. Existing investor IvyCap Ventures also participated in the round, investing about $3 million.
Singularity Ventures, the family office of stock market veteran Madhusudan Kela, which is an existing investor in Clovia, did not participate in the funding round. The funds raised will be utilized by the lingerie retailer to boost its business in smaller towns and for enhancing its product offerings.
“We spent a long time with AT Capital team and found them to be the perfect partners who understand the brand ideology and are aligned with our future plans. Clovia has been operationally profitable and this infused capital will be utilized to further enhance business growth.” Pankaj Vermani, co-founder and chief executive at Clovia said.
Vermani added that the capital raised will primarily be deployed for product enhancements, introduction of new product categories, team strengthening and improvement of in-house technology, and to enhance the brand presence for Clovia in tier-2 and tier-3 towns across India.
The funds raised by Clovia come at a time when online lingerie retailing has been witnessing significant flux with former market leader Zivame’s falling behind in terms of market share due to management changes, a switch of business model—from inventory-led to marketplace-led. While Zivame is backed by Zodius Capital and Chiratae Ventures, another competitor Pretty Secrets is backed by Orios Venture Partners.
Clovia currently sells innerwear through its website clovia.com, as well as offline stores. While about 75% of Clovia’s sales come from its website, its physical stores, launched in 2017, account for the remaining 25%, Vermani said.
The startup will use the funds to hire people for its design, technology and sales teams, and introduce new product categories like swimwear, teen bra, athletic leisure, as well as to bring out more innovative products in intimate categories such as sanitary pads and maternity wear.
“Clovia is the fastest growing brand in the online lingerie segment in India and we are excited to be part of building this company from early stages. It is an extremely successful omni-channel business and we are looking to establish its leadership in the category together with AT Capital” said Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner at IvyCap Ventures.
Its latest investor, AT Capital currently manages over $2.5 billion in assets across residential and commercial real estate, hospitality, natural resources, renewable energy and construction with presence in over 10 countries. An email sent to AT Capital remained unanswered. This would also mark AT’s first investment in the retail startup space.
“As a group, they’ve seen super success in business operations of huge scale across complex sectors and we believe their addition to the Clovia family will give us a huge edge now that we are working towards our next phase of growth,” he added.
In April 2017, Clovia raised $4 million in a funding round led by Singularity and Ravi Dhariwal, former CEO of media house Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. In June 2015, IvyCap Ventures invested $4.7 million into the Noida-based firm. Earlier, Zurich-based Mountain Partners had invested in a seed round.
Source: Mint