Exclusive: Fashion Recommerce Platform CoutLoot Raises Funding From Venture Catalysts

Fashion recommerce platform CoutLoot– a one stop solution to de-clutter one’s closet for cash, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Venture Catalysts. For Venture Catalysts, this marks their first investment in ecommerce sector. The startup will use the proceeds for strengthening its technology backend, expanding its team, and to roll out its campus trendsetter programs in colleges.

Founded by Mahima Kaul, Sahil Khimavat, Vinit Jain & Jasmeet Thind last year in November, CoutLoot, takes care of everything from curating a product to delivering it to the buyer and paying the seller for the same. The seller just has to click and sell their products on the platform. Sellers get paid for selling unused branded and boutique fashion from their own closet while buyer’s avail the best brands in absolute new-like condition at over 80% off.  The startup launched the Android app and iOS app this year and has seen downloads to the tune of 12,000.

Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, co-founder at Venture Catalysts, stated, “Pre owned clothes is a huge market opportunity to be tapped on account of India’s burgeoning youth population. The CoutLoot team is a very dynamic team, with a strong focus on business economics, which is what attracted our attention. “

As per Apoorv, Venture Catalysts normally makes investments in the range of $100k to $250K and the amount invested in CoutLoot is somewhere in the middle of this range.

From 50 Orders To 500

As per co-founder Jasmeet, CoutLoot has seen sales of 2,000 items since inception, has an inventory of 6,000 clothes, and sees about 300-400 listings on the platform daily. While the seller’s average age group ranges from 20-35, the buyers on the platform are between 14-25 years of age, scouting for branded goods at almost an 80% off. Common brands sold on the platform include Forever21, Zara, Bossini, Forever New, as well as luxury brands such as Guess, Michael Kors, and others.

Everything is curated by the 12 members team. Clothes are classified into brand new, hardly worn, and generally worn categories which are consequently discounted at 60%, 65-70%, and 75-80%. All goods are sanitised, packed, and then delivered by logistic partners of the startup. The average ticket size falls around INR 750 and CoutLoot’s commission ranges from 25-30%.

Says Jasmeet, “From doing 50 orders a day, we want to reach to 500 orders a day by the end of this year.” Currently present in 10 cities comprising Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Jaipur, Calcutta, and others. It aims to expand to more tier 1 cities by the year end. It has tapped into the bloggers networks and enlisting celebrities on the platform to increase traction.

In recent time, many startups have entered the fashion recommerce segment to tap the virgin market. These include names like Rekinza, Envoged, Elanic, Spoyl, and Zapyle. In April, Spoyl acqui-hired Revamp My Closet another startup in the same segment. Last year, Mumbai-based Envoged, raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by entrepreneurs Ankush Nijhawan, Manish Dhingra, Gaurav Bhatnagar (AMG investments) and few other angel investors. Bangalore based Zapyle also raised $1 Mn  around the same time.