Melorra Bags $12 Mn Funding From Lightbox, BlackSoil

Indian fine jewellery brand Melorra has announced a funding round of $12 Mn from venture capital firms Lightbox Ventures and BlackSoil Capital.

The investors also include 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.

The deal with Burman Family office was overseen by DPNC Advisors, the financial advisory arm of Dewan P N Chopra & Co.

Founded in 2016 by Saroja Yeramilli, Bangalore-based Melorra has been a part of daily-wear gold jewellery. The company sells “trendy and lightweight” jewellery that reflect the global minimalist trends. The company uses computer-aided design (CAD) to directly sell to consumers and claims to have delivered 1,300 Indian towns.

“We are filling a need gap by bringing to the millennial woman fine jewellery that doesn’t get confined to any occasion,” Yeramilli added.

Melorra has its own inhouse designers based in India, the US and the UK. The Bengaluru-based startup has two warehouses in Jaipur and Mumbai. The delivery is managed by supply-chain partner Sequel Logistics.

“We are sure the funding will enable them to enhance their capabilities and grow deeper in the markets that they service. By bringing gold jewellery to the mainstream in a never-before manner,” said Siddharth Talwar, Partner of Lightbox, in a press release.

The company also claims to have 5K designs in its catalogue that are inspired by the recent fashion trends from globally fashion runways. The company has also claimed to have recorded a 400% year-on-year (YoY) growth in financial year 2018-19. Melorra expects to expand its revenue by five-times in the FY2020.

“Melorra will be a 400 cr revenue company in FY21 and is on the fast-moving track to profitability,” the company added.

Melorra had also received a seed funding of $5 Mn from Mumbai-based Lightbox Ventures in January 2019. The company had utilised this funding to develop a mobile application on iOS and Android platforms, along with a digital portal for consumer experience.