Personalised fashion app WithMe has raised $250,000 (around Rs 1.7 crore) in angel funding from a group of investors comprising Alex Kuruvilla, managing director of CondeNast India; Pradeep Guha, former head of Zee Group and BCCL; Saket Dhankar, head of Lakme Fashion Week and serial entrepreneur and investor Rajan Pandhare.
"We are investing the funds raised to build some cutting-edge features on the app, specifically making the app more ‘intelligent’ so our users have a highly personalised high-end fashion experience. Our objective is to build an app that becomes the users’ handy guide for all style and fashion discoveries, discussions and decisions,†Ashutosh Pandey, co-founder of WithMe told VCCircle.
WithMe, run by Tripbaaz Technologies Pvt Ltd, allows users to quickly decide what to wear or buy by asking their friends or sending queries to fashion experts in real time. The company aims to have a million engaged users in the next 9-12 months, and expand to key markets.
WithMe was founded in 2015 by Ashutosh Pandey, Nithin Kaimal, Amit Gupta, and Shishir Maheshwari. Pandey has previously worked as CEO with Emergent Ventures India, a cleantech energy advisory firm, while Kaimal has worked with McKinsey and in the private equity space with New Silk Route Capital and IDFC Private Equity. Both of them are alumni of IIM Calcutta. Gupta has been a successful tech entrepreneur, while Maheshwari has worked with Tata Motors and IDFC PE.
In a similar space, Wooplr Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs a platform called Wooplr enabling hyperlocal discovery of products and commerce, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from InMobi and TaxiForSure founders this month. Gurgaon-based Relevant e-solutions Pvt Ltd, which runs fashion-focused social network Roposo.com, raised $15 million from existing investor Tiger Global Management in August last year. Moreover, Delhi-based Styledotme Fashion and Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, which operates mobile fashion app Styledotme, secured funding from IAN (Indian Angel Network).