Meet The D2C Startups Dazzling India's Jewellery Market.

Jewellery is the soul of Indian cultural identity. Weddings and festivals are incomplete without jewellery purchase and it finds usage in daily life as well.

This has propelled the Indian jewellery industry to the top globally, accounting for a 24.21% share of the total global market. 

While traditional retail contributes 85% to the overall jewellery sales in India, online marketplaces are piggybacking on the digital boom to create a niche for themselves in the segment. 

Besides the digital penetration, the demand for online jewellery products has also been growing on the back of rising urbanisation, need for novel and customised products, rising disposable incomes, evolving fashion preferences, cultural significance, among others. 

Notwithstanding the legacy players, which too have been actively expanding their online presence to meet this demand, several Indian D2C jewellery startups have emerged over the past decade or so. 

According to a report, the Indian online jewellery market is expected to grow to a size of $3.7 Bn by 2025. So, what is driving this boom? The shift towards online sales channels, especially after the pandemic, has been led by factors such as convenience, variety of options, and competitive pricing on ecommerce platforms. 

While Indians have always had a penchant for gold and diamond, other segments such as daily wear and fashion jewellery are also seeing rapid adoption among masses in recent times. 

With Dhanteras, Diwali, and the upcoming wedding season, this demand will get further boost. As such, we have compiled this list of the Indian startups shining in the Indian jewellery landscape. 

Editor's Note: This is neither an exhaustive list nor a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

D2C Jewellery Startups Shining Brightly.

🪙 BlueStone

Founded in 2011, BlueStone is a Bengaluru-based omnichannel jewellery retailer that claims to offer more than 8,000 diverse designs. It offers products across a host of categories like rings, pendants, and earrings. 

The company counts the likes of Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath, Manipal Group's Ranjan Pai, Cardekho Group's Amit Jain, Zomato's Deepinder Goyal, among others, as its investors. 

While the company is reportedly eyeing a public listing by the second quarter of next year, it bagged INR 900 Cr in a funding round in August, which catapulted its valuation to $970 Mn. The round saw participation from Peak XV Partners, Prosus, Steadview Capital, Think Investments, and Pratithi Investments through a primary and secondary share sale. 

Overall, BlueStone has raised a total funding of over $219 Mn to date. 

On the financial front, the company managed to trim its loss by almost 15% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 142.2 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Operating revenue surpassed the INR 1,000 Cr mark and stood at INR 1,265.8 Cr. It recorded a net loss of INR 167.2 Cr in FY23 on an operating revenue of INR 770.7 Cr. 

🪙 GIVA

Founded in 2019 by Ishendra Agarwal, Nikita Prasad, and Sachin Shetty, GIVA is a Bengaluru-based fine jewellery brand specialising in authentic 925 fine silver jewellery. It also sells 14K and 18K gold and lab-grown diamond jewellery. 

Earlier this month, the startup raised INR 255 Cr ($30.3 Mn) in a mix of primary and secondary transactions as part of its extended Series B funding round from Premji Invest, Epiq Capital, and Edelweiss Discover Fund. The latest funding took GIVA’s total funding in the Series B round to INR 525 Cr, following a previous raise of INR 270 Cr in July 2023. 

The startup surpassed the INR 100 Cr operating revenue mark in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. Revenue surged 97% to INR 165 Cr in FY23 from INR 84 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, its net loss rose 138% to INR 45.2 Cr during the year under review from INR 19 Cr in FY22. 

🪙 Kushal's

Founded in 2006 by Kushal Menghar and Manish Gulechha, Kaushal's is a Motilal Oswal-backed fashion and jewellery brand offering antique ornament alternatives for various occasions. 

It is an omnichannel brand, with offline presence across more than 25 cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Indore, Chandigarh, among others. Besides its website, its products are available across ecommerce channels like Myntra, Amazon, AJIO, among others. 

In February this year, Kushal's raised INR 284 Cr (around $34 Mn) in its Series B funding round from Lighthouse's fourth alternative investment fund (AIF). The round also comprised a secondary transaction, providing partial exit to its first institutional investor India SME Investments, which invested INR 15 Cr ($1.8 Mn+) in 2019. 

🪙 Metaman 

Founded in 2022 by Anil Shetty, Raunak Samdaria, and Yudister Narayan, Metaman is a men’s jewellery startup backed by the likes of Suniel Shetty, Nikhil Kamath, Prashanth Prakash, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, KL Rahul, and Robin Uthappa. 

It sells bracelets, pendants, chains, and rings, with prices starting from INR 1,999. In August this year, Metaman raised additional funding from cricketer and existing investor KL Rahul to launch its perfume range. 

Last year, the startup acquired hip-hop luxury jewellery brand Drip Project for $1 Mn to strengthen its presence in the growing Indian online men's jewellery market.

🪙 Pipa Bella

Founded by Shuchi Pandya in 2013, Pipa Bella is a fashion jewellery and accessories brand. It offers various types of bracelets, rings, pendants, among others. Pipa Bella was acquired by Nykaa in 2021 to capture the growing market for contemporary fashion jewellery in India.

Besides its own website, it sells its products via ecommerce platforms such as Myntra, Amazon, and international sites like Lazada and Zalora.

Prior to its acquisition, the startup secured $1 Mn in a funding round from Fireside Ventures and other investors in 2021.

🪙 Pulmonas 

Founded by Pallavi Mohadikar and Amol Patwari in 2021, Palmonas is a demi-fine jewellery brand for women that offers a range of contemporary options for daily and occasion wear. Demi-fine, generally, means affordable but premium quality jewellery. 

The brand offers a range of jewellery options, including necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, and mangalsutras, priced between INR 800 and INR 5,500. Its products are sold with a one-year warranty. 

Earlier this year, the startup roped in Bollywood actor Shraddha Kapoor as its new cofounder. 

🪙 Sukkhi

Founded in 2012 by Bhavesh Navlakha, and Prashant Gupta, Sukkhi is an omnichannel brand that designs and sells a diverse range of jewellery collections for men and women. It sells its product across ecommerce marketplaces as well as its own website. Besides, it has its retail outlets, shop-in-shops and kiosks across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Indore, among others. 

Its product offerings include necklaces, bangles, earrings, rings, among others. It claims to have a customer base of 15 Lakh and offers over 10K exclusive designs. 

Sukkhi raised $7 Mn in funding from private equity fund manager Carpediem Capital and Delhi-based Duane Park in 2018. Going ahead, the startup plans to establish around 300 stores across various cities in India.

🪙 Trisu

Founded by Saloni Chopra in 2023, Trisu is a fashion accessories brand offering gold vermeil jewellery with 18-karat gold plating on silver. The brand aims to provide affordable gold alternatives for customers aged 30-60.

It raised an undisclosed amount of funding in September from All In Capital, JK Tyres, and Amaanta Group, aimed at customer acquisition, product innovation, and market expansion. 

The startup then claimed that it has achieved 24X growth within eight months of commencing operations. It said it was aiming to generate $1 Mn in monthly recurring revenue by 2025 and open 10 shop-in-shops and five exclusive outlets in the next two years.

🪙 Voylla

Founded in 2011 by Vishwas Shringi and Jagrati Shringi, Voylla is a Jaipur-based fashion jewellery startup. It is an omnichannel brand with a presence across multiple online channels and 250 offline stores across India. Its product offerings include necklaces, bangles, earrings, rings, and accessories. 

It sells its products through its app, website, offline channels, and marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon, and Myntra, among others. 

Although it started with women's jewellery, Voylla later ventured into men's jewellery space in 2015. In the same year, it raised $15 Mn from private equity firm Peepul Capital.

🪙 Zariin

Founded in 2010 by sisters Vidhi and Mamta Gupta, Zariin is an omnichannel jewellery brand offering products across categories like necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets. It offers a lifetime warranty on its gold plating, allowing customers to have their jewellery re-plated free of charge.

It claims to sell products in over 21 countries and 200 stores worldwide. In India, it sells its products via marketplaces like Nykaa Fashion and Myntra. 

The brand has been adorned by celebrities like Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Nargis Fakri, Soha Ali Khan, Kalki Koechlin, among others.

How D2C Brand eské Is Taking On Aldo & Ilk With Its "Less Is More" Strategy

In India’s rapidly evolving $63 Mn fashion and lifestyle market, several young D2C brands have cropped up in the past few years to cater to the swiftly changing demands of a new-age consumer.

Flush with investor capital, these brands are also locking horns with legacy players (both local and global) to serve the country's 190 Mn+ digital shoppers.

However, there is a glaring mismatch between costs and the quality of products being offered to end users. For context, a more durable designer product may force new-age shoppers to cough up a fortune or drop products from their shopping carts, owing to their sky-high prices.

Peeved by the gap in the Indian fashion and lifestyle space, Shivam Khanna founded the D2C lifestyle brand eské in 2018. Today, the fashion and accessories brand deals in luxury handbags, laptop bags, accessories, luggage and travel items for men and women.

The brand gives tough competition to the likes of Aldo, Tommy Hilfiger, Da Milano Leathers, Hidesign and other luxury brands by providing high-quality lifestyle products at affordable rates. In addition, it is trying to challenge the dominance of giants like American Tourister, Accessorize, Aristocrat, and VIP Industries in the travel segment.

Since its inception, eské has raised $1.5 Mn from Mistry Ventures and Fluid Ventures. In the domestic fashion, lifestyle and accessories segment, the startup directly locks horns with Zouk, Scarters, Mokobara, and Chumbak.

In the $3.7 Bn handbag market, where the online handbag market alone is currently worth $500 Mn and projected to reach $800 Mn by 2028, the D2C brand’s competitive advantage is its in-house manufacturing.

The D2C brand, which primarily operates online, sells its products through its website and ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and Myntra. Nearly 80% of its revenue comes from online channels, with about 70% of the online sales originating from its website, and Myntra being the second most important platform.

In the Fiscal Year 2023, the startup’s total revenue, including sales of both manufactured and traded goods, amounted to INR 8.5 Cr.

The Genesis Of eské

The genesis of eské lies in Khanna’s 30 years of manufacturing experience while running SK Exports, the parent company of eské. Speaking with Inc42, the CEO and founder said that he identified an opportunity to cause disruption while making products for global brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole, and Aldo.

He highlighted that several of these lavishly priced luxury brand products are manufactured at a fraction of their retail costs. For instance, Khanna observed, a product originally priced at $40 to $50 is retailed globally at $400 to $500. These products then reach India after six to eight months at a much higher price.

The CEO said that with the brand, eské, he aimed to capitalise on India’s manufacturing capabilities to make available a range of luxury products to users at affordable prices.

Notably, with three decades of manufacturing experience, Khanna is well-versed in crafting high-quality leather handbags, footwear, wallets, and accessories. In addition, having an in-house manufacturing unit gives the brand a competitive advantage over its more flamboyant peers who depend on players like SK Exports for manufacturing.

"This sets us apart from competitors who rely on imports from China, exposing them to geopolitical risks. By producing in India, we maintain quality standards and eliminate concerns like import duties and currency fluctuations. Owning our supply chain allows us to swiftly respond to customer feedback, make improvements and launch new products rapidly," the founder said.

eské's Less Is More Playbook

Khanna said that eské’s strategy sharply contrasts with other brands that adopt a seasonal approach, offering summer, fall, winter, or holiday collections. eské rather follows a ‘less is more’ philosophy and prioritises continual improvement and minimalistic design. The brand accomplishes this by offering a lifetime guarantee on its products (generally four years). During this time, the company addresses any manufacturing issues.

In addition, the startup also provides sustainable vegan leather product options. For its vegan collection, the D2C brand uses a material called Mirum, which is a plant-based leather. Mirum serves as a plastic-free leather equivalent, offering the same look and feel as traditional leather.

"Instead of offering fast fashion items that get replaced every season, we provide durable, sustainable, and luxurious products designed for long-term use," the founder said.

Khanna told Inc42 that he is focussed on building a sustainable brand for the long term and not acquiring customers overnight at exorbitant prices.

"Moving forward, we aim to make sustainability a core aspect of our brand, along with functionality, quality, and durability, forming the four pillars of our ethos," the founder said.

Besides selling eco-friendly bags, the D2C brand also offers men’s handbags, laptop bags, backpacks, and briefcases.

"Approximately 45% of our revenue comes from the men’s category. This category has contributed significantly to our market leadership and continued growth," Khanna said.

Road Ahead For eské?

As of now, the D2C brand has set its sights on opening physical stores to boost brand visibility, engagement, and speed up the company’s growth. It presently has three offline stores in Delhi, Noida and Mumbai, and plans to expand to 20-25 stores in the short term.Its long-term plan is to expand to 150-500 stores in the next six years, with a keen focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

According to Khanna, these 400-600 square feet stores are expected to generate 15-20% store-level EBITDA in the first year itself.

"While online offers convenience, we recognise the importance of offline presence in our strategy. Therefore, we are strategically expanding offline, targeting specific metros and Tier 2 cities where significant buying trends are observed. Moving forward, we plan to aggressively scale our offline presence with standalone stores in malls," the CEO and founder said.

The brand’s expansion strategy is centred around building credibility and desirability while leveraging its strong customer base, which eské has grown from a mere 1,000 customers to more than 1 Lakh users today.

"While our presence in India is currently lower compared to other brands, customers who have experienced eské products have shown strong brand loyalty."

Currently valued at $6 Mn, the startup aims to achieve INR 100 Cr in revenue within the next 2 years, primarily through offline channels.

Khanna believes the D2C brand’s competitive advantage comes from vertical integration, which helps optimise working capital.

Presently, the Indian Handbags ecommerce market is predicted to reach $512.7 Mn by the end of 2024 and grow at a CAGR of 11.1% to become a $779.7 Mn opportunity by 2028.

Amid this, it would be interesting to observe how eské stands tall against the likes of global giants like Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, and LVMH with its affordable luxury playbook.