Lifestyle brand Zouk said it has raised $3 million in fresh capital. The round was led by Stellaris Venture Partners and saw participation from other investors including Sharrp Ventures and JJ Family Office. Deutsche Bank India CEO Dilip Khandelwal, Manoj Meena of Atomberg, and Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee of Sugar Cosmetics also participated.
Founded by husband-wife duo Disha Singh and Pradeep Krishnakumar, Zouk offers products such as bags, wallets and footwear. The brand said it has grown 10x from the last funding round in mid-2021 and focuses on Indian handicraft designs and cruelty-free materials.
The brand said it will use the funds to expand its product portfolio and ramp up distribution. It plans to launch five exclusive outlets this year for a larger share of the bags and accessories market, which is projected to have a CAGR of 12% to reach $10.6 billion by 2024. It had previously raised $1.5 million in a pre-series A round.
Disha Singh, Founder, Zouk, said the brand can now scale up and build a large consumer brand in the lifestyle space. “We are rapidly expanding our collection of bags and footwear. Our recent launches of backpacks, baguettes and clutches have been received well. On the distribution front, we are now available in over 50 offline retail touch points. We will further see our first set of brand outlets. We will also be building our brand awareness… The biggest investment though will be on expanding our team and strengthening our supply chain,” she said.
Rahul Chowdhri, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, added, “We have been impressed with Zouk’s capital-efficient growth. We thus decided to double down on our investment. With the expansion in footwear, the upcoming offline foray and the brand-building initiatives planned, we are excited with what’s in store from Zouk.”
The Indian market for vegan leather accessories is growing rapidly, with a number of direct-to-consumer brands emerging in recent years.
Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital said, “As Zouk’s first investors, we are glad to participate in this round as well. Zouk has received tremendous brand love and has focused on providing high-quality products with scale. We are confident that the brand will build a large business in this space in the years to come.”
Start your day, the smart way!
1 Mail | 2 Mins | 3 Stories