Source: Entrackr
Kolkata-based men’s ethnicwear brand Kisah Apparels has raised ₹13 crore (approximately $1.52 million) in its pre-Series A funding round to expand its retail stores and online business. Sagar Daryani, founder of food chain Wow! Momo led the funding round, while investors Apoorv Salarpuria, Rahul Todi, Vinod Dugar and Inflection Point Ventures participated in the round.
According to the company, the new funds will be allocated to three primarily focused areas: to expand its offline store network, to augment its D2C operations, and to build its brand through marketing and product development.
Started as an Online Brand
Kisah Apparels was founded in 2018 by Yash Sarawagi and Yashwi Ladasaria. The brand caters to ethnicwear of a stylish sort for young Indian men, especially targeting the Gen Z and millennial segments. Kisah began by selling on heavily-trafficked e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. A couple of years later, Kisah has developed into an omnichannel brand as it sells products online as well as offline.
Currently, Kisah maintains two offline retail locations. With additional funding into their business, Kisah plans to open three more stores in the near future which will be located in major cities all over India. The expansion will help empower its overall site expansion to provide retail support to customers who prefer to shop in person.
Technology and Data at the Core
Kisah has developed its own systems to provide the company insights into customer behaviours and sales data. Therefore, Kisah can better make decisions on what designs to make, how to source materials; what to do with the supply chain; and where to place marketing dollars.
“E-commerce gave us pan-India reach and deep customer insights, which are now fueling our D2C and offline growth—backed by data, customer pull, and positive cash flow at the company level,” said Yash Sarawagi, co-founder and CEO of Kisah Apparels.
He also stated that Kisah is already cash-flow positive and profits at the PAT (Profit After Tax) level, which is quite rare for many fashion start-ups in their early years.
Rapid Business Growth
As claimed by the company, Kisah has increased its revenue run rate from ₹40–45 crore to over ₹100 crore which indicates a strong demand for its products and a clear consumer interest with young Indian men in ethnicwear that is trendy and inexpensive.
With the new funds, Kisah is getting ready for its next phase of growth and the company is looking to become the go-to name in men’s ethnicwear.
