Fashion startup Virgio has raised $37 million as part of its Series A funding round, co-led by Prosus Ventures, Accel, and Alpha Wave Global.
The funds will be utilized for technology development and hiring, as per a press statement.
“There is an underserved market for branded apparel in India. For example, branded apparel constitutes only 25% of women's fashion in the country. The fashion industry in India is thus at an inflection point,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of India investments, Prosus Ventures, while commenting on the transaction.
The Bengaluru-based company was previously backed by a series of angel investors including, Mukesh Bansal (Myntra), Kunal Shah (Cred), Binny Bansal (Xto10X), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), actor Saif Ali Khan, Sriharsha Majety (Swiggy), Mekin Maheswari (ACT Grant), Sameer Nigam (PhonePe), Reddy Ventures and Viko Ventures.
The company is building a fashion tech platform that will allow designers to access consumer preferences in real time. It is also envisioning a tech-led network of factories that enable designers to build prototypes, get consumer feedback, and scale up production.
Virgio’s model claims to have reduced the 8 to 10-month lead time to just one month. Its app has around 100,000 downloads. It saw an upsurge in the number of users on its platform during its Singles’ Day sale last month to about 1 million new users while it claims to have over 20,000 daily active users (DAU).
Prosus Ventures made significant investments in the Indian market in FY22 wherein it invested $900 million in total, out of which around $800 million was invested in India. In December 2022, it also participated in the $60 million Series E funding round of DeHaat.