Rapawalk Fashion Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous online footwear brand, has raised $300,000 (Rs 2.23 crore at current exchange rates) in seed funding.
The round in the Bengaluru-based company was led by angel investment platform Inflection Point (IP) Ventures, the startup said in a statement. This marks the 18th investment for IP Ventures since March this year.
Rapawalk was set up in 2018 by Kashif Mohammad and Aravind Maddireddy, both of whom are alumni of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.
Other investors in the company include Myntra co-founder Raveen Sastry, former Myntra marketing head Sanjay Ramakrishnan and former Flipkart chief technology officer Ravi Garikipati.
The company says its bespoke service operates with made-to-fit products and an inventory-light business model to ensure a personalised experience for customers. It claims to have recorded a 15-fold growth in sales volume in the previous financial year, with a 40% cumulative monthly growth rate.
“Personalization is the future of fashion. We want to give ultimate power to every customer to create their own footwear,” Mohammad said.
The company will use the seed capital to grow its business, primarily through focussing on its online channel over the next 12-15 months. It is also looking at omnichannel shopping experience offerings for customers.
“Rapawalk being in the D2C (direct-to-consumer) segment, offers a great personalized footwear design and shopping experience while managing the entire customer journey,” IP Ventures founder and CEO Vinay Bansal said.
The angel investment platform was founded by senior finance professionals from startups such as Myntra and BookMyShow. It has been actively making bets on startups since its launch in 2018. It has invested over Rs 100 crore across more than 40 startups.
In a VCCircle Podcast last month, Bansal talked about the angel network's appetite for larger deals.
Some of its recent bets include Internet of Things-based startup Eden Homes, e-sports content platform AFK Gaming, snack-focused cloud kitchen platform Samosa Party Foods and ed-tech startup Edvizo.
In June, it also led a mid-stage investment round in grocery delivery startup Milkbasket, a rather late-stage bet for Inflection Point Ventures.
