Ethnic wear brand Shobitam has marked its first acquisition with apparel brand House of Blouse to strengthen its product offerings.
However, the financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded by Aparna Thyagarajan and Ambika Thyagarajan in 2019, Seattle-based Shobitam claims to be a growing online direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform for ethnic fashion, serving in over 40 countries. Its offerings include sarees and accessories, among others.
“This supplements and complements our customer experience greatly and enables us to diversify our product category by adding more unique products,” said Thyagarajan.
Shobitam has raised Rs 12 crore (around $1.5 million) from Mumbai-based Hearth Ventures and angel investor Girish Laxman till date.
Meanwhile, House of Blouse sells sarees and tailored blouses through its website and claims to ship worldwide.
“We look forward to expanding our products outside of blouses and penetrate into different countries to which Shobitam has a solid customer base already,” said Roopa Reddy, co-founder and creative head at House of Blouse.
Lately, the D2C space also garnered the attention of large conglomerates, VCCircle had earlier reported.
According to investment bankers and investors, large conglomerates are finding it easier to buy out D2C brands amid a funding crunch for unprofitable startups. The trend has been rising over the last few years and will sharpen in 2023, especially for startups requiring capital to survive.
Among other developments in the apparel industry, D2C fashion brand D’chica raised Rs 1.62 crore late last month from revenue-based financier Velocity to scale its hiring and marketing plans. The brand generates revenue from its core offerings—innerwear--along with a fashion line of sportswear, loungewear and footwear.
Another popular apparel and footwear brand, Bewakoof Brands Pvt. Ltd, handed a majority stake to TMRW, a wholly-owned unit of Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Ltd. for about Rs 200 crore. Bewakoof, in December, also said that it is aiming to break even by the next financial year, and achieve 10% Ebitda margin in the next five years.