Fashion Retail Platform, 6Degree Raises Rs. 2.5 Crores from Keiretsu Forum

Designer Network and fashion retail platform, 6Degree (Protinus Fashion Networking Pvt. Ltd.) has raised fresh funding of Rs. 2.5 Crore from global early-stage investor network Keiretsu Forum - Delhi and Bangalore chapters.

Earlier in the year, 6Degree had raised an undisclosed amount from SucSeed Ventures as part of its Pre-Series A round. The company has also been funded earlier by the Indian Angel Network, Angel Bay and Keiretsu Forum in an earlier round.

"Keiretsu Forum brings an array of business growth expertise and key access to fashion retail segments, which will allow us to scale our technology solutions and bridge the gap between 700,000-plus homegrown designers and single/multi-brand stores across the country. With this round of funding, 6Degree will be able to move faster to help local designer talent become strong national or global brands," said Nikhil Hegde, Co-founder and CEO of 6Degree.

Founded by Nikhil Hegde and Amit Bhardwaj in 2015, 6Degree brought the largely fragmented fashion industry on a single platform and has become India's largest fashion network with over 15,000 fashion industry professionals and is currently home to over 4,000 fashion designers.

"Affordable designer wear is a segment that will see phenomenal growth as India's middle class moves up the value chain and our investors see value in being a part of 6Degree's journey to tap into that market," said Denny Kurien, President of Keiretsu Forum Bangalore and Delhi NCR.

Keiretsu Forum is a global network of individual investors, funds, corporate entities and family offices looking to invest in early-stage companies. It allows members to work together on selecting deals and investing, with a view that the collective knowledge of the community can lead to better investment outcomes. Keiretsu Forum currently has more 250 investors as members in India.

Started in Silicon Valley in 2000, it is now one of the most active early-stage investor networks in the world with 56 chapters spread across more than 20 countries on four continents. According to Pitchbook, Keiretsu Forum funded 196 early-stage companies in 2019, by far the most by any investor network.

The Indian fashion retail industry is worth around $100 billion, while the global fashion market is in excess of $3 trillion. With the biggest youth population in the world, global and homegrown brands see India as a greenfield opportunity in the fashion segment.

There are over 700,000 home-grown fashion designer brands in India that seek to retail through over 75,000 single-brand and multi-brand stores. In addition to this, there are over 25,000 fashion design students who graduate each year with many of them aspiring to start their own fashion labels.

Starting off as a one-stop solution for fashion designers who traditionally sourced services through middlemen and producing two of the leading fashion shows in the country, 6Degree has now added to fashion retail management to its portfolio. This allows the company to not only help produce fashion, but also market and sell it.

The company has built partnerships with over 100 multi-brand stores and leading fashion platforms such as Lakme Fashion Week and FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India) Fashion Week, playing host to leading names in the fashion industry.

Through its 6degree.store platform, Indian designers now have access to global customers, particularly the Indian diaspora that values designer fashion. On the other hand, fashion service providers can now be discovered by leading brands through the 6Degree Network which is like a LinkedIn for fashion.

"6Degree has constantly been working in the affordable luxury segment with emerging designers. With over 4,000 designers and over 15,000 fashion professionals on the 6Degree network, there has been a need to leverage this asset and enable growth across the globe," Nikhil Hegde said.

"With our strong partnerships with IMG Reliance, Lakme Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of India, we have been able to help over 500 emerging and homegrown fashion designer brands by giving them access to national and international markets," he added.

6Degree was started in 2015 by Nikhil Hegde and Amit Bhardwaj, with a vision to bring the unorganised fashion industry on one platform and through this, democratise style for consumers.

6Degree is India's largest fashion network with over 15,000 professionals and home to over 4,000 fashion designers. The company also has long standing partnerships with over 100 multi-brand stores and leading fashion platforms such as Lakme Fashion Week and Fashion Design Council of India, playing host to leading names such as Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora and many others.

6Degree provides every stakeholder in the fashion industry with a opportunity to grow their business - either through service opportunities or product sales. Designers now have access to newer markets, nationally and internationally through 6Degree Retail Platform while fashion service providers can now be discovered by leading brands through India's largest fashion network - 6Degree Network.

SucSEED Invests in 6Degree, A Fashion Commerce & Retail Management Platform

SucSEED Ventures invests into Protinus Fashion Networking Pvt Ltd, to expand its horizon into Fashion Commerce & Retail Management Platform segment. SucSEED invests in 6Degrees through this Pre-Series A round, whereas Kieretsu Forum had invested seed capital earlier. 

6Degree is India’s largest fashion network with over 15,000 professionals and home to over 4,000 fashion designers. The company also has long standing partnerships with over 100 multi-brand stores and leading fashion platforms such as IMG Reliance, Lakme Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of India and several esteemed names, playing host to leading names such as Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Arora and many others. 

Nikhil Hegde, Co-Founder of 6Degree said, “6Degree has constantly been working in the affordable luxury market for the emerging fashion designers. With large base of designers & fashion professionals on the 6Degree network, there has been a need to leverage this asset and enable growth to the local talent and engage with customer across the globe. 6Degree has strong existing partnerships and have been able to add business value to over 500 emerging fashion designer brands by giving them access to national and international markets. We have also launched www.6Degree.store to provide the fashion-conscious consuers access to limitless styles from homegrown designers and at affordable prices ” 

Talking about the company plans to utilized the funds Nikhil Hegde said that 6Degree will now be able to move quicker and bring about a democracy in styles to consumers and support local designer talent in becoming strong national & global brands. 

Speaking on why they have invested in 6Degree, Vikrant Varshney, Cofounder & Managing Partner, SucSEED, said “The Indian fashion retail industry is about $100 Bn, with the global market in excess of $3Tn. There are over 700,000 homegrown designer brands in India who seek to retail in over 75,000 single brand & multi-brand store network. In addition, each year, there are over 25,000 fashion students who graduate and a large section of them go on to start their own homegrown brand. Our Investment into 6Degree would help them achieve a dominating position in that space and organise the market. 

Dr.Moti Vyas, an active Investor with SucSEED, said "6Degree has the vision to transform fashion industry, as it provides an end to end platform for fashion industry participants with a digital technology infrastructure. It works to eliminate overheads, improves efficiency, provides transparency, fair marketplace for new players and above all world class customer experience at an affordable price point. 

Speaking on this investment further, Dhiraj Sinha, Cofounder & Partner, SucSEED, said “6Degree aims to democratize the fashion industry for India's middle class. The company is led by the passionate duo - Nikhil Hegde and Amit Bhardwaj with global fashion industry experience and a vision to 'make a difference'. We take pride in our association with 6Degree”. 

6Degree (http://6degree.co) was started in 2015 by Nikhil Hegde and Amit Bhardwaj, with a vision to bring the unorganised fashion industry to one platform and through this, democratise style for consumers. Today, 6Degree provides every stakeholder in the fashion industry with a opportunity to grow their business – either through service opportunities or product sales. Designers now have access to newer markets, nationally and internationally through 6Degree Retail Platform (https://www.6degree.store) while fashion service providers can now be discovered by leading brands through India’s largest fashion network – 6Degree. 

Problem(s) that 6Degree is addressing: 

• Fashion is always perceived to be a consumption for the rich class, however, most people have an aspiration to be fashionable. Bringing customized and affordable luxury-wear to consumers from homegrown fashion brands. Stylish products at affordable prices always seek new markets and consumers from the growing middle class population of India. 

• Homegrown fashion designer brands stuggle to establish themselves on a global scale. 

• Provide business and job opportunities for fashion professionals through India’s largest fashion network – 6Degree Network. Fashion service provides can now have access to jobs and opportunities without a middleman and payment guarantees. 

Solution: 

• 6Degree has launched its propertiary retail management solution that provides designer brands with a single platform to grow and manage their business across all online and offline sales channels. 6Degree manages over 200 designer brands via its unique retail platform and provides access to new markets & consumers. 6Degree Retail Management now allows homegrown brands to go digital-first while still providing them with retail opportunities in physical stores through its large store-partner network. 
• One of the largest industries of India is built by local fashion designers & homegrown brands and 6Degree now enables the VocalforLocal campaign by scaling these homegrown brands to national and international markets. 
• 6Degree Network allows fashion and lifestyle brands to tap into the growing fashion talent community to be discovered and find fashion jobs. Leading corporate & lifestyle brands have leveraged the 6Degree Network to take their campaigns viral over the digital domains. 

About the market Potential in the space
The Indian fashion retail industry is about $100 Bn, with the global market being in excess of $3Tn. Having one of the largest youth population in the world, global and homegrown brands see India as a greenfield opportunity in the fashion segment. There are over 700,000 homegrown fashion designer brands in India who seek to retail in over 75,000 single brand and multi-brand store network. In addition, each year, there are over 25,000 fashion students who graduate and a large section of them go on to start their own homegrown brand. 

The Founders: 

• Nikhil Hegde | https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilrhegde/ 
• Amit Bhardwaj | https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbhj/ 
• 10 years in risk consulting and telecom industry, worked for companies like Subex, Airtel, Tata Teleservices and KPMG MBA from University of Leeds | University topper for MBA 

Women Fashion Brand FabAlley's Parent Firm Raises ₹20.75 Cr Funding from SAIF Partners, India Quotient

High Street Essentials (HSE), the parent company of women's fashion brands FabAlley and Indya, on Saturday said it has raised Rs 20.75 crore in a fresh round of funding led by existing investors, SAIF Partners and India Quotient.

The pre-series C round involves a convertible note, which will be converted during the series C raise, a statement said.

The new round of funding has also seen participation from Abhishek Dalmia and several family offices, it added.

A convertible note is a short-term debt that converts into equity, typically in a future financing round in a startup.

The latest infusion of capital comes shortly after the company had raised Rs 8 crore in venture debt from Trifecta Capital in January this year. The company has raised over Rs 97 crore in equity funding and Rs 13 crore in venture debt.

"The new capital raised will be utilised for expanding the brands' D2C (digital to consumer) footprint with new initiatives such as a subscription-based shopping experience, and catalogue curation with AI-based recommendations based on customers' affinity and data mining," the statement said.

To address the current situation, the company has also ventured into new categories such as fashion masks, lounge-wear, and formal keyboard-up dressing options.

HSE's Indya brand has seen massive online growth internationally during the last fiscal year, which will be harnessed further by adding localised offers, currencies, and payment methods, the statement said.

Started in 2012 by Shivani Poddar and Tanvi Malik, HSE has scaled up its retail footprint in FY20 with 13 new Indya stores and five FabAlley stores, along with expanding both brands to over 400 shop-in-shops across the country.

"In the midst of this unprecedented global crisis, we are working hard to ensure that we leverage all our assets such as our nimble supply chain, data-led designing and sharp focus on customer experience so that HSE emerges as a leading fashion retail company in the industry," Poddar said.

HSE reported net revenue of Rs 90.2 crore in FY19, with a net profit of Rs 1.3 crore. PTI SR

Fashion Rental Platform Stage3 Raises $2 Mn in Funding led by Blume Ventures

Stage3, India’s leading fashion-rental and styling platform bringing the largest selection of celebrity endorsed designer outfits and accessories to millennial India’s closets has raised USD 2 million in a Pre-Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Blume Ventures, and highlighted the strong interest of investors in India’s growing fashion rental market. Stage3 has successfully established itself as the leading purveyor of design-led glam wear for men and women in the affordable luxury category.

The current funds will be utilized to amplify the brand experience, boost its offline footprint and augment its data capabilities. Furthermore, Stage3 plans to collaborate with several prominent celebrities, influencers and designers within the coming year, adding to the extensive network it has already created.

Stage 3 has registered a strong revenue growth of 350% YoY and high engagement metrics, further reinforcing the investors’ decision. The company has consistently recorded high repeat rates and unit economics. Its asset light model with revenue share inventory is another advantage, accounting for 80% of its current inventory.

Founded in 2016, the company was envisioned to make glamorous fashion affordable, sustainable and, most importantly, easily accessible to Indian consumers. It targets today’s fashion-forward millennials via a two-pronged approach. First, by making expensive designer wear available to them at a fraction of the MRP through a rental business model. Second, it simultaneously sells capsule collections of “elevated basics” via its home-grown fashion brand “Alaya”, by leveraging collective purchase trends and data insights from customers. These curated collections perfectly straddle the line between exclusivity, style and cost, and are co-developed by designers and celebrity stylists.

Stage3’s proposition fits perfectly into the sharing economy ecosystem in India where fractional ownership is bridging the gap between aspiration and access. In a true case of buyer empowerment, Stage3 also lets its users list their own designer wear to be rented by others via the platform. All of the platform’s offerings are complemented by the company’s in-house stylists, who provide fashion and styling advice to users for free.

[caption id="attachment_136771" align="alignleft" width="262"] Sabena Puri[/caption]

Commenting on Stage3’s proposition, Sabena Puri, CEO and co-founder said that dress up is undergoing transformational changes with millennials interested in engaging in a variety of fashion experiences rather than a owning a closet full of clothes that they no longer have interest in or use of. Constant exposure to the best of designs and creations the world over, their desire to experience such fashion is high. Platforms that make accessing such products easier for the buyer have great potential for success. “Through our offerings, we want to bridge this gap and help our customers be on top of today’s fashion game without having to worry about high pricing, seasonality or storage woes”. At Stage3, we have proven that the sharing economy is going to change the way we consume fashion in India”.

[caption id="attachment_136772" align="alignleft" width="217"] Sanchit Baweja[/caption]

Commenting on the investment, Sanchit Baweja, CBO and co-founder added, “We are excited that Blume Ventures has extended their support to us to add to our strong ecosystem of investors and advisors, including Nisha Kumar, Ex-CFO, Rent the Runway and Anaita Adajania Shroff, Fashion Director, Vogue India. Our growth is going to be omni-channel and data-driven. We plan to invest heavily in enhancing our data capabilities as well as focus on building greater awareness amongst our target audiences about the rental model we are operating with.”

Speaking on the funding, Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner, Blume Ventures said, “We’ve known Stage3 and its founders for a few years now. We love their commitment to the model and its ability to take aspirational brands and designs from great designers and luxury wardrobes to a growing mass of aspirational consumers. Rental culture and recycling or reuse is here to stay as youth understand wastage more than the last generation or two. By providing choice, convenience and prices that special occasions demand in their lives, Stage3 is providing coolness with sustainability in the new India.”

About Stage3 –

Founded in 2016 by Sabena Puri, Sanchit Baweja and Rina Dhaka, the Delhi-based company focuses on providing today’s fashion-forward millennials affordable access to on-trend, glamorous fashion through rental and sales. Stage3’s unique, expansive ecosystem comprises 100+ designers, fashion enthusiasts and a network of relations with 25 celebrity stylists, 150+ leading bloggers, influencers and 50+ celebrities. The company’s board members are some of the biggest names in the business.

Community-led Commerce Platform Marsplay Raises Funding from Venture Highway and Industry mavens

Marsplay, the community-led commerce platform, has raised a pre-series A round of funding, led by Venture Highway with participation from Alvin Tse from Xiaomi, Jonathan Lau, Partner, Cadorna Ventures. existing angels including the personal offices of Shailesh Rao, a partner with TPG Growth, and Nikhil Mohta, Director, ICICI Ventures also followed on in this round. Marsplay’s seed round was led by Amit Agrawal, former YouTube India Head, Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO, Bounce, and Shamir Karkal, Founder Simple.com, among others.

Marsplay revolutionizes fashion shopping, by moving it away from catalogues to a personalized, curated, visual feed of fashion trends from your circle of acquaintances and your local community. The community fully captures local and personal aesthetic influences to give users a more relevant shopping experience. What makes Marsplay unique is a shoppers ability to purchase everything you see in your feed with a single tap but more importantly, it ensures that the fashion aesthetic/choices works uniquely for you - essential for the Indian shopper, who prefers local fashion markers to what’s working on Paris or Milan fashion ramps.

“Fashion has always been about social cues, and while social platforms have amped up community interactions, fashion commerce has lagged behind, with a massive gap between discovery and instant purchase. Also, current social platforms seem to be tone-deaf when it comes to local influences - in India, where, as the old saying goes, the fashion language changes every 100km.

We envisioned a platform that provided easy-to-shop fashion advice on ‘What to wear’ and ‘When to wear’ that was crowdsourced from a community passionate about fashion and beauty. We see our relationship with this crucial community as a symbiotic one - not only do we provide them with a platform to build their personal brand, but also one with the tools to monetise their creativity.” shared Misbah Ashraf, Co-Founder Marsplay.



Misbah should know how communities work best - he previously founded a payment company and lead the product growth at Silicon Valley based startups - Pursuit, Toymail (YC W16) and Pulse.qa (YC W18).

"Fashion trends, ideas, and inspirations are often derived from people rather than brands. Social media creators are genuine & relatable people sharing real-life experiences of products that they like or dislike. Consumers look up to their favourite influencers not just for the relatable content but content that aids their buying decisions. At Marsplay, we believe in empowering every single person to be a brand of their own and build the most human way for millennials to shop online." shared Ayush Shukla, Co-Founder Marsplay. His friend, and collaborator from the last 8 years.

Ayush previously ran a Digital Marketing Company, Co-founded a B2B grocery delivery startup and worked as a Digital Marketing Expert at US-based firm Workwiththecoach.

Marsplay plans to use the funds to build its product engineering team and build a strong creator community. It seeks to employ the long tail of influencers to surface discovery and commerce of interesting fashion beauty products and brands - fulfilling a felt need to stand out, in one's attire and accessories, in the age of homogenised fast fashion.

“Fashion-led product discovery has been shifting away from eCommerce websites to social networks, however, the discovery to purchase process is still disconnected. More consumers are now seeking inspiration for fashion trends from people who are more relatable than celebrity influencers. In Marsplay, we have found a single platform that provides users with a seamless discovery of fashion trends and the ability to purchase their chosen product with a single click. We are excited to partner with the Marsplay team, as they build out community-driven fashion commerce in India”, said Samir Sood, Founder, of Venture Highway

Mumbai-based Purple Style Labs Acquires E-Commerce Website Pernia’s Pop Up Shop

Mumbai-based fashion platform Purple Style labs (PSL) a premium fashion platform has acquired Pernia’s Pop Up Shop (PPUS), a leading multi-brand e-commerce website which houses over 500 of India’s pre-eminent designer brands. The platform is a market leader in e-commerce for premium Indian designer wear. Through this acquisition, PSL aims at building a comprehensive omni-channel fashion platform that is predominantly focused on meeting the fashion needs of Indians in India and across the world.

Over the last one year, PSL has opened and expanded into 9 offline multi-designer stores called 'Pernia's Pop-Up Studio' and 'The Stylist' in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. As a result, PSL has been able to achieve 5x year-over-year growth, driven equally by like-for-like growth as well as strategic brand acquisitions. Post the acquisition, Pernia Qureshi has stepped down as the Creative Head of the platform and all of Pernia’s Pop-Up related IP and business are to be completely owned and managed by PSL.

In addition, PSL has begun acquiring equity stakes in India’s leading fashion brands, driving exclusive product through its omni-channel platform. It has recently invested in House of Masaba, one of the highest selling brands on its platform.

[caption id="attachment_132672" align="aligncenter" width="710"] Pernia's Pop-Up Studio in Bengaluru (Image - fibre2fashion.com)[/caption]

Purple Style Labs has raised investment over $8m since inception (2015) from the family offices of highly respected industry veterans and investors including Binny Bansal, Raj Soin, Navroz Udwadia, Rahul Kayan, Jitendra Gupta and Astarc Ventures.

PSL plans to open 10 international stores and 20 domestic stores in the next 24 months. The Company expects to achieve an annual revenue run-rate of $40m+ across all channels including online, offline and events in the next 24 months.

Mr Abhishek Agarwal, Founder, Purple Style Labs added, “The Indian fashion industry is now being recognized globally. When we started PSL in 2015, the vision was to create a platform for Indian fashion, which is currently highly fragmented across designers. We aim to aggregate this fragmented supply, curate assortment which enables discovery of high-quality products, channelize demand creatively and permanently solve the critical pain-points associated with the industry.

"We are also looking to invest in early-stage Indian designer brands as a part of a long-term strategy to significantly augment supply, distribution, inventory and reach, " he said.

Founded in 2015 by Abhishek, Purple Style Labs aims to create the first tech-enabled luxury fashion house out of India that incubates young designer brands and provides them with best-in-class sales, marketing and technical support. PSL comprises of a 200+ member team based out of Mumbai and Delhi operating Pernia’s Pop Up Shop Website, 9 offline stores and other related IPs. The company works with over 500 Indian designers across all the platforms and targets to open 30 stores in the next 24 months with 10 international stores.

~ Via Business Wire India