BlueStone Raises $30 Mn From IIFL, Accel & Others

Bangalore-based online jewellery startup, Bluestone, has raised about $30 Mn (INR 200 Cr) in Series D round of funding. IIFL, Accel Partners along with Kalaari Capital, RB Investments and IvyCap Ventures participated in this round.

BlueStone was founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj. It is an online jewellery destination that showcases high quality fine jewellery. It features more than 5000 unique designs from a wide collection of jewellery. It ships to over 20,000 pin codes across the country. The designs crafted, are available 24/7 with a 30-Day money back policy and lifetime exchanges. It also has a home try-on facility available in 16 cities.

Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, founder and CEO, BlueStone said, “We are now targeting a four-fold increase in revenues to touch INR 1000 Cr by 2018 and we want to achieve this goal in a profitable and sustainable manner.” The newly raised funds will be utilised to grow the category and strengthen its leadership position.

BlueStone offers over 5,000 unique jewellery designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years. With design, manufacturing and logistics capabilities built in-house, the brand is able to quickly expand its manufacturing capabilities and customize its design offerings as per market trends.

Prior to this, in July 2015, BlueStone raised around $16 Mn (INR100 Cr) in Series C round of funding from a group of investors. Till date BlueStone has raised about $60 Mn funding from Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, IvyCap Ventures and Saama Capital. Ratan Tata and Meena Ganesh (CEO of Portea) have also invested in the company.

Earlier this year in May 2016, Titan, the owner of jewellery chain Tanishq and part of Tata group, acquired a majority stake in Caratlane, a Mumbai based online private label jewellery brand. Other startups in this segment include, Mumbai-based online jewellery marketplace VelvetCase, Delhi NCR-based Fourseven, an online jewellery store and Fashion jewellery and accessories e-tailer, Voylla.com, operated by Jaipur-based Voylla Fashion Pvt. Ltd, among others.