Seven-year-old lifestyle brand Chumbak has received a fresh infusion of capital led by venture capitalists Gaja Capital and the amount invested is reported to be Rs 85 crore. Of this, Gaja capital has invested Rs 52 crore, while existing investors in the venture, Matrix Partners and angel Narayanan Ramachandran have put in Rs 22 crore and Rs 6 crore respectively. Narayanan Ramachandran is also an operating partner in Gaja Capital. Chumbak is reported to have raised an overall funding of Rs 124 crore so far.
Chumbak relies a lot on its creativity in terms of designs to impress their customers with and its products with exclusive designs in the fashion and home products segments are growing increasingly popular with the upwardly mobile young and younger population.
“Our vision is to create a global, fashion led, lifestyle brand. We are thrilled to have Gaja Capital on board to add to the expertise that Matrix Partners have brought us in the last few years as we work towards this vision. The focus going forward will be to rapidly expand our offline footprint by opening 20-25 new stores per year, improving our online presence and entering into new product categories such as personal care. We are excited about the journey ahead and energy levels are extremely high across the team,” Vivek Prabhakar, CEO and Co-Founder, Chumbak said.
The company hopes to use the fresh funds to make further inroads into Indian markets where they do not have a presence currently and also to foray into some lucrative overseas markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong in the foreseeable future. For the record, Chumbak operates 17 stores in 7-8 major cities in India.
It also plans to tie-up with large format stores to display its range of products. It has an online presence as well. The company sees a niche for itself in the “design-driven lifestyle brands” in the country, with very few operators in this space. The last reported annual turnover for the company stood at around Rs 50 crore.
“Vivek and Shubhra have created a unique consumer brand. As early investors in Chumbak, we have seen them grow this brand across product categories and channels. We are privileged to partner with the Chumbak team and welcome Gaja Capital to the partnership. At Matrix, we have invested in home grown brands such as W and Aurelia and private brands continue to be an area of high interest for us,” Rajat Agarwal, Vice President, Matrix India said.