Here’s How Metaman Is Restoring The Sheen Of Jewellery For Indian Men

Passionate about fashion, politics, and entrepreneurship, Anil Shetty is determined to shake up the men’s accessories and jewellery market.

With his love for fashion and experimentation, he enjoys playing around with different clothing styles and brands to find the perfect fit. Speaking with Inc42, Shetty described himself as a true fashion enthusiast, and it was only later on that he channelled this passion into building his own business.

A few years back, while attending a movie premiere, Anil Shetty saw his friend and Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty wearing a necklace. After inquiring about the piece of jewellery, the actor told Anil that the necklace belonged to his mother and rued about the lack of men’s jewellery brands in India.

The conversation proved to be the eureka moment for Anil, who, two months later, birthed the idea of a design-focussed D2C jewellery brand for Indian men and onboarded Suniel Shetty as a founding mentor, along with investment banker Raunak Samdaria as a cofounder.

Although Metaman operates in a space that is dominated by startups such as Bluestone (founded in 2011), Melorra (incorporated in 2015) and GIVA (founded in 2019) that offer jewellery pieces to both men and women, none of these brands specifically focus on men, an area where MetaMan claims its niche lies.

Anil told Inc42 that men’s jewellery is not a novel concept in India. “As more and more Indian men became factory workers, during the colonial era, the art of jewellery and associated culture was lost with the tides of time,” Anil said. 

While noting that options are plentiful for Indian men in terms of basic items such as gold chains and bracelets, the startup founder believes that his startup is disrupting the ‘not-so-niche’ market with its designs. 

The cofounder also feels that the segment is growing as the younger generation wants to be more fashionable, and with Metaman, the startup founder claims to be bringing ‘more sophistication to the design element’.

Crafting The Strategic Market?

In terms of product line, the startup primarily sells items such as bracelets, chains, pendants and rings. As per the company, all of its products are priced in the sub- INR 10,000 range, aimed at the growing demand of men’s jewellery. 

Starting with 25 designs priced under INR 2,000, the startup’s current focus lies primarily on men’s fashion jewellery alongside other necessary product categories. But, from here, Metaman plans to scale up in multiple directions and diversify into other categories. 

Going forward, Metaman plans to foray into the fine jewellery segment by launching its gold jewellery line and build variations on top of it, such as a line for different occasions. 

Giving a gist of the platform, Shetty said that the company designs the products in-house and then outsources the manufacturing to its 3-4 vendors spread across the country. 

It then partners with logistics partners to then deliver the items to its customers at their doorsteps.

Touting Metaman as a product company, the cofounder said that he also has plans to sell the company’s products via online marketplaces such as Nykaa Man, AJIO Live, and Flipkart, among others. He is also planning for an offline foray in the next few months. 

“We are currently a digital-first brand and our focus is on scaling up our online vertical. But, as we go forward and see enough traction online, then, we would also like to foray into the offline space and list our products in the stores. This will help us build greater confidence among customers as users can see our products online and can then get a touch and feel of the jewellery in stores. That is what we are thinking,” Shetty said. 

Remoulding Indian Men 

Responding to Inc42’s question on what inhibits men from wearing jewellery, Shetty said,“Men want to wear fashion jewellery but do not find attractive designs. However, with quality designs best suited for men’s fashion, users would be attracted to to try on such items and will also cultivate brand loyalty.

Meanwhile, he also said that a lot of time, money and efforts need to be spent to further fill the chasm to raise awareness about the emerging market, and Metaman intends to do exactly that. 

While the company claims to have streamlined its initial challenges, Shetty told Inc42 that, at the outset, it was difficult to find the right set of manufacturers who strictly adhere to design and produce exactly what we need. 

Completely new to the domain, Shetty said that longer wait times on the vendor’s end made things a little more difficult. While it did take some time, the company claims to have streamlined its issues and perfected the supply chain and manufacturing side of things.

Meanwhile, the company claims to have a lot on its radar. Metaman recently acquired millennial-focussed luxury jewellery brand Drip Project for $1 Mn to strengthen its presence in the growing Indian online men’s jewellery market. Drip Project’s cofounder Harsh Maskara has also been onboarded as Metaman’s new cofounder.

Amid growing competition in the space, especially millennial-focussed D2C jewellery brands such as GIVA, Melorra and Priyaasi, the startup claims to focus on its designs and plans to leverage its first-mover advantage, in the market, to strengthen its position and scale up. 

In the long term, Metaman aspires to be known for its designs and as the country’s biggest men’s jewellery platform. 

The Bengaluru-based startup claims to have raised around $1 Mn from some of the biggest angel investors like Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath, Accel Ventures’ Prashanth Prakash, Licious cofounder Abhay Hanjura, and Razorpay CEO Hashil Mathur, cricketer Robin Uthapa, cricketer Robin Uthappa, Suniel Shetty, among others. 

Anil told Inc42 that his startup will go for another round of funding soon. However, the founder has set a threshold of INR 1 Cr in net sales per month before raising more funds and expanding its offline play. 

While the startup only began selling products from August last year, Metaman claims to be firmly rooted in the strategy of making money and being a profitable company. Without going into specifics of the company’s financials, Shetty said that the startup plans to spruce its margins to become profitable. 

Meanwhile, the Indian D2C jewellery space is witnessing hectic competition and wider adoption among masses. Previously while local goldsmiths served as the go-to-market for users to buy jewellery, many D2C startups are disrupting the market with its design-focused proposition and affordable options. 

These players operate within the larger Indian gems and jewellery market which was pegged at $25.30 Bn in 2020. The industry is projected to soar to $88.70 Bn by 2026.

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