Northmist Pvt. Ltd, an online organic cotton menswear company, has raised another Rs 1 crore ($146,320) in angel funding from a bunch of angel investors, a top executive told VCCircle.
The funds were raised from Birju Gala, chief executive of Zibo Paper Tech; Somendra Biswal, head of corporate affairs at Shahi Export; and two other individuals working with US companies, said Arijit Mazumdar, co-founder and chief executive, Northmist.
The fresh capital will be used for hiring, brand-building and expanding the firm’s product line, said Mazumdar.
Norhtmist was launched on 11 July last year by Mazumdar and Smrity Gupta. The company makes and sells men's T-shirts online. The firm is involved in the entire process, from sourcing organic cotton seeds to ensuring they are grown in good conditions to packaging the finished product in recyclable paper. It does not use colouring substances in its products.
Mazumdar said that the company is exploring options for different sustainable fabrics like banana fabric, bamboo fabric and recycled fabric.
In October last year, Northmist had raised an undisclosed amount from Lucknow-based angel investor Prashant Jaiswal.
Before Northmist, Mazumdar worked with Bengaluru-based Artifacia, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered visual marketing platform for e-commerce and retail brands, as the head of business development. Mazumdar, who post-graduated in engineering from Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Odisha, has also worked at Infosys.
Gupta, who is a graduate from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, takes care of branding and design. She has also worked with Artifacia and has had stints at major brands such as Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd and Shahi Export Pvt. Ltd.
Northmist estimates that the Indian fashion apparel market for 2017-18 was pegged at $55 million. The menswear segment accounted for 41% of the market.
Deals in the space
A number of companies in the broader apparel segment have raised funding in recent months.
In February, Myntra co-founder Raveen Sastry and PremjiInvest partners Rahul Garg and Atul Gupta invested in apparel brand Turms. The company claims its apparel has special properties such as being stain-repellent and odour-resistant, owing to the use of its proprietary nanotechnology during the production process.
Azani Sports raised an undisclosed amount from early-stage consumer-focused venture fund Fireside Ventures in January. Azani is an active-wear brand for sports apparel, compression gear and footwear.
In the same month, online-first lingerie and sleepwear retailer Clovia raised $10 million (Rs 71 crore) in its Series B funding round led by AT Capital Pte. Ltd.
