Bengaluru-based celebrity fashion lines firm and the parent of online venture Collectabillia, Universal Sportsbiz Pvt Ltd (USPL) has raised Rs 46 crore ($7.5 million) in its Series B round of funding from its existing investor Accel Partners, it said on Tuesday.
Founded in April 2012, USPL’s portfolio includes Wrogn, a fashion brand inspired by cricketer Virat Kohli launched in October 2014; Imara, a contemporary women’s ethnic fashion brand with Bollywood actor Shraddha Kapoor unveiled this February besides its first product Collectabillia, which e-tails sports and entertainment-related fashion accessories.
It was started by Anjana Reddy, a member of the business family that once controlled media firm Deccan Chronicle. Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar owns a minority stake in the venture.
The company said it is planning to enhance the network presence for its two fashion labels—from 30 stores to over 75 stores for Imara and from 38 stores to 70 stores for Wrogn.
For Collectabillia, USPL plans to extend its range of fashion accessories forging alliances with 10 iconic and celebrated personalities. As an extension of this initiative, Collectabillia will also seek to identify and engage untapped talent for developing and sourcing designs for its line of fashion accessories.
“The capital will accelerate our expansion plans of foraying into new markets and newer segments, consolidating our position in the celebrity fashion line industry,†said Anjana Reddy, a former national level badminton player herself.
“The next phase in the evolution of fashion (e)commerce would be dominated by brands. As the pressure to improve margins in horizontal commerce and marketplaces increase, good brands will provide the answer. USPL has an online and offline strategy for distribution. It has done an excellent job in building three great brands and have global aspiration in the near future,†said Mahendran Balachandran, partner at VC firm Accel Partners India.
Accel has previously invested in ventures like Myntra and Flipkart in the fashion and horizontal e-commerce space, respectively. It had invested around $3.5 million in USPL in 2012.