Chennai-based Caratlane Trading Pvt Ltd, which runs the online diamond and jewellery portal Caratlane has recently closed its series C round of funding, a source privy to development informed.
Founded in 2008, Caratlane deals in gold, silver and diamond jewellery. It was founded by Srinivasa Gopalan (an IT entrepreneur who was the founder and CEO of Lister Technologies) and Mithun Sacheti (scion of Jaipur Gems, which has stores in Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore). Prior to this round, the jewellery e-tailer raised $6 million in series A from Tiger Global. The source also disclosed that a series B worth Rs 30 crore happened in March 2012. The third round happened very recently and again, Tiger Global participated. Sacheti, who is also the CEO of Caratlane, neither confirmed nor denied the investment.
The domestic gems and jewellery market is estimated to be around Rs 1.2 lakh crore, as per a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The online market is still in the infancy but the window of opportunity is huge. There are several players with whom Caratlane competes; these include other VC-funded e-tailers BlueStone and Pepperfry to brands like Tanishq which has its own online store.
In an earlier feature, BlueStone co-founder Gaurav Singh Kushwaha said the jewellery e-tailer is selling upto 120 units a day. The market is definitely growing as more people are opening up to the idea of high-ticket jewellery purchases online.
We will update the post as soon as we get an update from Caratlane.
