Serial Entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal In Talks To Raise $50 Mn For New Fashion Venture

Serial entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal, who founded fashion ecommerce giant Myntra and fitness startup Cultfit, is reportedly in talks to raise funding for his new venture in the premium fashion space which will be focussed on Gen Z.

Bansal, who is working with former Zomato cofounder Mohit Gupta, is in advanced stages to close a $50 Mn Series A round from investors such as Peak XV Partners and Accel, Moneycontrol reported.

Peak XV is likely to lead the round, which will also see participation from Accel, the report said, adding that Bansal has been in talks with multiple investors to raise $40-$50 Mn at a post money valuation of $100 Mn.

For the new venture, Gupta will be based out of Delhi to drive execution and Bansal will be based in Bengaluru as he will continue to oversee Cultfit.

Bansal holds rich experience in the ecommerce space as he founded Myntra, becoming a pioneer in the fashion ecommerce segment. He has also invested in Gen Z-focused fashion destination Virgio, founded by Amar Nagaram, a former Myntra executive.

On the other hand, Gupta quit Zomato in 2022. He was earlier the CEO of Zomato’s food delivery vertical before being elevated to the role of cofounder in 2020.

The latest development comes at a time when Gen Z shoppers have emerged as the focus area for multiple ecommerce players due to their shopping habits. On Thursday (August 17), Flipkart launched an app-in-app fashion vertical, SPOYL, targeted at Gen Z customers. SPOYL will be a vertical within Flipkart’s app and will feature more than 40,000 products across categories such as western wear, accessories and footwear.

Earlier this year, Myntra launched FWD, a separate fashion experience portal for GenZ, on its platform to add 10 Mn Gen Z users to its customer base over the next two years.

According to a report by Bain & Co, one in three online shoppers in India is Gen Z and their first online purchase is mostly from the fashion category, at entry price points. As such, ecommerce platforms in India have been targeting the upcoming generation of consumers.

The fashion and apparel category was a $20 Bn market in India as of 2022, with the segment set to become a $112 Bn opportunity by 2030, accounting for more than a quarter of India’s $400 Bn ecommerce opportunity by then, as per Inc42’s ‘State of Indian Ecommerce, Q2 2023’ report.