Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia, and Zodius Technology Fund have invested Rs. 250 crore in Zivame, an online lingerie retailer.
Existing investors Unilazer, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital also participated in this third round of funding.
Founded by Richa Kar, Zivame will use the money to attract more women to shop online, strengthen its merchandise and develop technology. The Bengaluru-based firm also announced the launch of a dedicated lingerie app.
“We are optimistic, restless and ambitious to build Zivame as the brand that is transforming Indian women,” said Richa Kar, Chief Executive Officer of Zivame. The Indian woman wants to look and feel good and has the economic independence to splurge on lingerie she never had access to before, said Ms. Kar.
An alumna of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Ms. Kar co-founded Zivame in 2011 along with Kapil Karekar. She realised the potential for selling lingerie online when she learnt that American lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret earned a quarter of its revenues through online sales.
The company said intimate wear in India is sold by men and plagued by poor inventory availability. Zivame said it has re-imagined this category and now sells more than one bra per minute. About 30 per cent of its revenue come from small towns and cities in the country.
The firm has built a dedicated wing for development of lingerie based on intensive research on body types and lifestyles of Indian women. It has a data sciences laboratory that mines hidden insights from huge amount of data to design and develop lingerie. About 60 per cent of its revenue come from selling in-house products.
Investors said that they are impressed with how Ms. Kar and her team are building a formidable business by providing superior customer engagement and product choices to Indian women.
“Their ability to use technology to customize the buying experience and provide world class private label products is noteworthy,” said Shilpa Kulkarni, managing director at Zodius Advisors.
Zivame is the first investment in India’s booming e-commerce industry for Khazanah Nasional. About 60 per cent of Zivame’s traffic comes from mobile and this is expected to grow fast.
“Khazanah is very happy to support Richa (Kar) and the Zivame team with driving their mission of women empowerment within and beyond India,” said Chinta Bhagat, executive director for investments at Khazanah India Advisors.
