Bangalore-based luxury fashion platform Zapyle has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round of funding from its existing investors, a top company executive told VCCircle.
The startup will use the capital to develop its technology platform, onboard more brands, and for marketing, Rashi Gulati Menda, founder and chief executive at Zapyle, said. She declined to specify the amount raised.
The firm had raised $1 million in angel funding from a bunch of unnamed real estate firms and investment companies in Bangalore in September 2015. It is looking to raise $500,000 by July this year.
Through Zapyle, users can discover, sell and buy luxury designer labels like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Gucci, etc. The company claims to offer discounts ranging from 20% to 90%. Currently, the firm clocks in 550 orders per month, with purchases averaging Rs 5,200.
Noiets Internet Pvt Ltd, which runs Zapyle, was founded in May 2015 by Menda, an economics and finance graduate from University of Minnesota. Prior to setting up Zapyle, she worked as an analyst at EY and led partner marketing at Unamia, a children’s apparel firm.
“We have grown 42% this quarter and also launched new categories. Our returns have come down from 8.8% to 4.2%,†said Menda.
While Zapyle earlier focused on pre-owned apparel, it is now addressing the luxury wear segment. “Consumers don’t value pre-owned apparel as much and the returns are higher, where our average ticket size is Rs 9,500. So, it made better sense to rely on it from an economic perspective. Providing luxury items that have value proposition and discount made sense. Our ticket size for the luxury segment is Rs 5,200,†she said.
Zapyle faces competition from CoutLoot, Envoged.in, Elanic and Etashee. These portals rely on the growing middle class’ aspirations of owning premium, luxury brands.
In the designer fashion space, on-demand fashion rental platform Flyrobe had raised $5.3 million (about Rs 35 crore) in a Series A investment round led by IDG Ventures in August last year.
In March last year, StylFlip, a mobile-only platform for used fashion goods for women, had raised an undisclosed amount in funding from real estate developers Raj Gala Shah and Zaheer Memon.
This article has been modified to include inputs from Zapyle.
Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.