SustainKart Marketplace India Pvt Ltd, which runs e-commerce marketplace SustainKart, said it has raised an undisclosed amount from actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu in its seed round.
The startup plans to deploy the fresh capital towards marketing for customer acquisition and enable offline retail stores for a unique in-store customer experience.
“I believe that the choice of Indian consumers has been slowly gravitating towards more conscious and nature-friendly products. Many reputed consumer brands have been launching their sustainable range of products, more so after the pandemic,” said Prabhu.
Launched in 2021 by Shilpa Reddy and Kanthi Dutt, the startup offers eco-friendly products across lifestyle categories, from fashion to decor, food and nutrition, among others.
“We are planning to develop several strategic celebrity partnerships for SustainKart's House of Brands as well to attract capital investment to grow the private labels vertical. With Samantha aiding our purpose towards achieving sustainability goals, we will be able to position ourselves in global markets," said Dutt.
Shilpa Reddy, Co-Founder of SustainKart added that platform is planning to launch its first offline store in April. It also aims to launch 30 stores in the first year and a total of 100 stores in two years.
Last month, SustainKart raised $500,000 (around Rs 3 crore) in pre-seed funding led by India Accelerator. Recently, the firm acquired the homecare brand FromVedas.
Souled Store Pvt Ltd, which operates casual wear and apparel brand The Souled Store, said it has raised an undisclosed sum from actress Sara Ali Khan.
Other investors who took part in the fundraise include Sahil Barua, Co-Founder of Delhivery, Gunjan Soni- Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Zalora; Revant Bhate, Co-Founder of Mosaic Wellness and Ramakant Sharma, Founder of Livspace, among others.
"In a short span of time, the brand has carved a niche for itself in the casual wear space. Being an ardent pop-culture lover, and a firm believer in originality and comfort being as important as fashion, I see the brand as a perfect fit to invest in," said Khan.
Founded by Vedang Patel, Harsh Lal, Aditya Sharma and Rohin Samtaney, The Souled Store is an online merchandising platform with licenses such as Disney, Warner Bros., WWE, IPL, Viacom18, among others.
The brand’s current product portfolio includes top wear, bottom wear, innerwear and activewear for men and women.
"Her quirky and experimentative styling best reflects our brand image; we couldn’t have found a better investor and partner. We expect this collaboration will lead to great things together," said Samtaney.
The Souled Store claims to have a customer base of over four million. In January, the startup raised Rs 75 crore in Series B round led by Elevation Capital.
