Exclusive: Melorra Raises $8.9 Mn Led by Shadow Holdings

Indian fine jewellery brand Melorra is raising INR 66 Cr (nearly $8.9 Mn) in debt funding led by Shadow Holdings. Lightbox and Embassy Group’s CFO Gopinath Ambadithody also participated in this round.

According to the ministry of corporate affairs filings accessed by Inc42, Melorra’s parent company August Jewellery parent limited has allocated 11,233 Compulsorily Convertible Debentures (CCDs) of nominal value of INR 100 ($1.36) per debenture and a price band of INR 58,931 ($802 Mn) per CCD.

Here’s a breakdown of CCD round:

• Shadows Holdings has picked up 8,344 CCD worth INR 49.17 Cr ($6.6 Mn)
• Lightbox Expansion Fund has picked up 1,401 CCD worth INR 8.25 Cr ($1.12 Mn)
• Lightbox Ventures II has picked up 1,139 CCD worth INR 6.71 Cr ($913K)
• Gopinath Ambadithody has picked up 349 CCD worth INR 2.05 Cr ($279K)

Back in June 2020, Inc42 reported that the company was raising INR 9.32 Cr ($1.26 Mn) in debt from Beeline Impex Private Limited, Chowdry Associates and existing investor Lightbox Ventures. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings, Lightbox Ventures II and Lightbox Expansion Fund, is investing around INR 7.57 Cr. Beeline Impex Private Limited and Chowdry Associates are investing INR 75 Lakh and INR 1 Cr respectively.

Prior to this, it had raised $12 Mn from venture capital firms Lightbox Ventures and BlackSoil Capital. This round also includes a few renounced family offices such as Great Eastern Shipping Company led by Ravi Sheth, the Burmans of Dabur, Rainmaker Ventures and the Jeejeebhoy family office.

Founded in 2016 by Saroja Yeramilli, Bangalore-based Melorra has been a part of daily-wear gold jewellery. The company claims to be selling “trendy and lightweight” jewellery that reflect global minimalist trends. The company uses a computer-aided design (CAD) to directly sell to consumers. The company sells jewellery from the online platform and android and iOS applications.

In the financial year 2018-19, the company claimed to have recorded a 400% year-on-year (YoY) growth. For the FY20, the company was expecting to expand its revenues by five-times. However, the company hasn’t published the revenues for FY20 yet.

Besides Melorra, some of the other players in this sector include CaratLane, Velvetcase, Sukkhi, Bluestone, Radiant Bay and Kuber Box. As per IBEF report, the gems and jewellery sector contributes around 7% of the country’s GDP and 15% to India’s total merchandise exports.