Ratan Tata-Backed BlueStone Eyes Unicorn Tag In Pre-IPO Round

Omnichannel jewellery startup BlueStone, which counts Ratan Tata, Accel and IvyCap among its investors, is reportedly in discussions to secure close to $100 Mn in a pre-IPO funding round at a potential valuation of more than $1 Bn.

The Bengaluru-based startup is aiming for profitability by March next year and has been in talks with new and existing investors for weeks to raise fresh capital ahead of its public listing, as per Economic Times’ report.

BlueStone’s pre-IPO round has attracted multiple bids from investors, with some valuing the company at over $1 Bn that will catapult it to the unicorn club. The deal is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks.

This would translate to a more than 2X jump from its previous valuation of $450 Mn in September 2023 when Bluestone bagged $65 Mn in funding from a clutch of investors, including Zomato cofounder Deepinder Goyal and Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath.

Early backers of BlueStone may also sell a portion of their holdings in the round, the report added.

The development comes at a time when BlueStone is looking to go public. The startup plans to raise INR 2,000 Cr through its IPO, expected to be launched this year.

Inc42 earlier reported that BlueStone was looking to raise $16.5 Mn in a mix of equity and debt from a clutch of investors such Innoven Capital, Ashwin Kedia and Sankar Bora among others.

Prior to that, BlueStone was planning to raise $9 Mn in debt funding from Trifecta Capital.

Founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj, BlueStone houses more than 8000 designs of fine jewellery across categories such as rings, necklaces, pendants, and earrings among others.

The company reported a 1.6X jump in revenue from its operations in FY23 to INR 770.7 Cr, as compared to INR 461.3 Cr in FY22.

Notably, the Indian jewellery industry raked in revenues of nearly $77 Bn in 2023, surpassing China, the US, Japan and Russia.

In March, D2C jewellery brand Kushal’s secured INR 284 Cr in its Series B funding round from Lighthouse’s fourth alternative investment fund. 

Meanwhile, silver jewellery startup Giva bagged $35 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Premji Invest last year.