Fast fashion retailer NEWME on Thursday raised $18 million in series A funding in an equity round led by Accel, along with participation from existing investors Fireside Ventures and AUM Ventures.
Accel contributed $12.5 million in the round, and will nominate one person to NEWME’s board following the funding, NEWME CEO & Co-founder Sumit Jasoria told YourStory.
The company plans to use the funds for offline expansion and optimising its supply chain. It is also planning to open 40-50 stores across 20 key cities, including key markets in North-east India, over the next 12-18 months. It is targeting to open 15-20 offline stores in FY25 and plans to grow 4x compared to last year by the end of current financial year.
NEWME also plans to use the funds in “building an omnichannel presence, establishing a strong network of offline stores to complement the thriving online platform, leveraging cutting-edge technology to streamline the supply chain,” it said in a statement.
Jasoria said the company is “dedicated to addressing the dual-fold challenge of design relevance and evolving shopping preferences with precision and insight. Our proprietary technology stack allows us to manage the supply chain efficiently while minimising waste, and delivering the latest fashion trends swiftly and sustainably.”
Founded in 2022 by Vinod Naik, Shivam Tripathi, Himanshu Chaudhary, and Sumit Jasoria, NEWME was one of the first digital-native fast fashion brand to foray into offline expansion and focus on omnichannel presence. It opened its first retail store in Bengaluru in July 2023 and has since then expanded to five new cities with six retail outlets.
The startup, which counts London-based Urbanic and global giant Shein, along with domestic players like Tata-backed Zudio among its peers, has been trying to capture GenZ wallet in the country.
According to Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel, “D2C brands are uniquely positioned to capitalise on India’s retail sector, which is set to cross $2.2 trillion by 2030, leveraging omnichannel strategies.”
Its peer Shein was in news recently regarding the global fashion giants’s relaunch in partnership with Isha Ambani’s Reliance Retail in India. However, the details of the arrangement have not been revealed yet.
The company raised $5 million in seed round in a funding round led by Fireside Ventures in January, and had said it was planning to use the funding for enhancing its supply chain and expand its manufacturing along with offline presence.
