Jewellery brand Melorra designing affordable jewellery for everyday wear has raised USD 12.50 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by Symphony Asia (one of Asia’s first private equity firms), Lightbox Ventures and Alteria Capital. Others who participated in the round included existing and new family offices of Burman, Jeejeebhoy and others.
Melorra has been a disruptor in the fine, trendy, and lightweight gold jewellery segment ever since it started operations in 2016. The funds will be used for technological, product innovations and brand marketing to grow awareness and position Melorra as the choice of a new generation.
Melorra says it has been recording accelerated growth in order value and numbers ever since the lockdown was lifted. The brand has also witnessed a 4X increase in both organic and direct traffic compared to last Diwali and the ASP (average selling price) has grown by 40% compared to pre-COVID levels.
Commenting on this, Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO, Melorra, said, “We are happy to raise this round of funding, with the investor trust in our capabilities. Melorra is operating at positive unit economics and rapidly regaining its pre-COVID level revenues. This can be attributed to the fact that we are a leader in the daily wear lightweight, trendy jewellery segment. The added benefit during the pandemic is that we are available online which helps us address the customer concerns around trust and safety. In light of the increased gold prices, we have also come up with innovations in jewellery. Our customers can get the look and feel of expensive gold jewellery without having to shell out a huge amount since we are using path breaking innovations in the design and manufacture of jewellery.”
Yeramilli said that Melorra has proved its business model and continues to improve its offerings. Although raising capital has been tough in the market, funding in this period has re-established the investors’ belief in the business model and team, she added.
Anil Thadani, Chairman of Symphony Asia, said, “We are impressed with the work of Saroja Yeramilli and her team at Melorra in creating a differentiated business model for the jewellery sector in India. Melorra has seen strong growth over the past few years, by bringing fast fashion jewellery to the millennial woman. We look forward to supporting the next phase of growth and expansion.”