AARK World Pvt. Ltd is the company that owns the startup Rent It Bae and has been operating a fashion rental service out of its headquarters, Delhi. The company has now acquired another startup in the same fashion rental space, Flyrobe. This is reported to be a cash and stock deal and Flyrobe has been valued at ₹60 crore. Post this acquisition, the merged entity has adopted the Flyrobe brand being the older in the business and considered one of the largest.
There are now plans afoot to take this Flyrobe brand to lucrative markets like Dubai, London and the US. The company may take the franchise route to make this expansion.
The acquisition of Flyrobe by AARK World Pvt Ltd is through its own fundraising. Existing investors in AARK, GEMS Partners have participated in this funding. There may be another Series A fund raising round after this by the combined entity. STRIVE, an investor in Flyrobe in its previous avatar, is also continuing to stay invested.
A new set of senior management personnel has been entrusted with the task of running the day-to-day affairs of the company.
The new company with the merged businesses wants to rapidly expand geographically and has an objective to reach ₹100 crore in topline revenue in the next couple of years.
The company has developed an app that the customers can download. This has an Augmented Reality (AR) feature that enables them to try the clothes on before renting them out. This virtual experience is being called ‘Tryrobe’.
The strength of the company lies in its O2O model where it has presence in both online and offline space. They have created a platform for curators to showcase their work and over 1,800 curators are already aboard. Another 3,500 have applied to be included with their garments and the company is conducting a review currently, according to the statement issued to the media.
Flyrobe is offering its services to more than 1 million customers in 30+ cities through its website, apps and stores. The company plans to open 15 owned and franchise stores in the next 12 months, both in tier 1 and tier 2 cities.