D2C Jewellery Brand Melorra Bags $24 Mn, Plans To Expand Its Experience Center Footprint Pan India

Indian D2C jewellery startup Melorra has raised $24 Mn in a fresh round of investment. The investment was led by 9Unicorns, Symphony Holdings Private Limited, Value Quest, Param Capital and family offices. 

The announcement comes two days after Inc42 had exclusively reported about Melorra’s $10 Mn debt round from Symphony Holdings, Mukul Agarwal of Param Capital and the family of ace investor Kalpraj Damji Dharamshi’s family. 

The company said that the funds will be utilised for technology upgrade, ramping up brand marketing, and expansion of Melorra’s experience centres pan-India. 

Melorra is aiming for $1 Bn in revenue five years from now. The startup at present sells hallmarked gold in 718 Indian districts, while the government mandates coverage in only 256 districts. The brand has delivered to over 2,700 towns in India so far and clocked 200% year-on-year growth.

The startup wants to launch a new collection every week and 75 designs every Friday. Melorra highlighted that its team visits the Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks to pick 26 micro-trends launched by global fashion brands. 

Founded in 2016 by Saroja Yeramilli, the Bengaluru-based startup offers daily-wear gold jewellery. The D2C startup sells “trendy and lightweight” jewellery that goes well with minimalism. 

The investment comes a year after it raised $12.5 Mn from Singapore-based Symphony Asia, Lightbox Ventures, and Alteria Capital. Last year the startup had raised debt investment worth $8.9 Mn from Symphony Holdings. The startup closed its seed round worth $5 Mn in 2016. 

Melorra saw its revenue from operations drop by over 400% from INR 16.5 Cr in FY19 to INR 89 Cr in FY20. The startup’s loss widened by 79.5% from INR 33.75 Cr in FY19 to INR 60.60 Cr in FY20. 

Interestingly, Melorra’s total expense skyrocketed to INR 150 Cr in FY20 from INR 51 Cr in FY19. The details of FY21 are yet to be filed by the startup. 

According to an IBEF report, India in FY21, exported gems and jewellery worth $25.3 Bn. The sector is likely to employ close to 8.23 Mn people by 2022, from 5 Mn in 2020. The sector has contributed 7.5% to the country’s GDP.

Melorra competes against the likes of Nykaa owned Pipa.Bella, Voylla, JewelMaze, among others.