Sankar Bora’s Footwear Startup CHK Nets $2.5 Mn To Fuel Production

Sankar Bora’s Footwear Startup CHK Nets $2.5 Mn To Fuel Production

SUMMARY

Footwear startup CHK has bagged capital from Accel as part of its seed funding round, which drove its overall investment to $2.5 Mn (INR 21.6 Cr)

Prior to this, the startup also raised a Pre-Seed funding from BlueStone

The fresh proceeds will be deployed for accelerating production and strengthening the startup’s go-to-market strategy

DealShare cofounder Sankar Bora-led footwear startup CHK has bagged capital from Accel as part of its seed funding round, which drove its overall investment to $2.5 Mn (INR 21.6 Cr).

Prior to this, the startup also raised a Pre-Seed funding from BlueStone Jewellery and Lifestyle Ltd.

The fresh proceeds will be deployed for accelerating production and strengthening the startup’s go-to-market strategy ahead of its market launch in April. 

Bora told Inc42, “CHK has established its in-house design and production facility in Tamil Nadu, which is set to begin operations in another 15 days.”

Bora, Deepan Babu, Bharat Mahajan and Deepak Patil founded D2C footwear brand CHK in September 2024, to offer lifestyle footwear in innovative, trending styles customised for fashion-forward millennials and style-conscious Gen-Z consumers in India.

The company is working towards its mission of producing end-to-end ‘Concept to Creation’ shoes that redefine lifestyle footwear for India’s discerning and fashion-conscious youth, Bora also said.

Bora elaborated that ‘Concept to Creation’ gives CHK the authority to run the complete process of production, from the design stage to the final output, without any compromise in their timeline and provides the creative freedom to innovate footwear that resonates with young consumers.

This development comes at a time when the D2C sector is seeing the growth of footwear brands as investors are encouraged to make their bet on scaling opportunities of the shoe makers.

For instance, a few weeks ago, Inc42 reported that sneakers-focussed ecommerce platform Culture Circle raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round to scale its operations globally, enhance technology, and reinforce its position as a digital marketplace for hyper-luxury goods.

Prior to that, Delhi-based footwear brand Yoho secured INR 27 Cr ($3.21 Mn) as part of its Pre-Series B round to fuel its domestic and international expansion, scale up investments in research and development (R&D) and grow its product portfolio.

Updated at 12:48 PM

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