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| Zouk-Founders - Pradeep and Disha |
Investors include Stellaris Venture Partners and Titan Capital
Aims to scale to INR 100 crore by FY23; to expand in India and launch overseas in the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East
Mumbai/ Bengaluru, July 21, 2021 - Zouk, a homegrown 100% PeTA approved vegan lifestyle brand, today announced that it has raised INR 11.75 crore / USD 1.5 million in pre-series A led by Stellaris Venture Partners, along with participation by the founders of Wow Skin Science. Existing investors Titan Capital also participated in the round. The fund infusion will aid Zouk in expanding its presence in India and new global markets, strengthening its supply chain and distribution channels, and extending its product line. Zouk raised its seed capital earlier this year from Titan Capital, founders of Beardo and Mamaearth. Zouk offers products that personify the essence of Indian design, while being extremely functional. Its portfolio includes laptop bags, tote handbags, slings and chain wallets to name a few, made from 100% vegan leather sourced and manufactured in India. Zouk’s mission is to build an iconic global consumer brand from India. Having gained over 50,000+ customers with a 4x growth in the last seven months, Zouk aims to double its consumer base every six months for the next 5 years. The pre-series A round will be utilized by the company to take the rich Indian heritage in a modern avatar to the US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East in addition to expanding its team in India. Furthermore, Zouk is looking at extending the range to offer contemporary products, thereby building the category, and encouraging market acceptance of living a cruelty-free lifestyle.
Speaking about the investment, Disha Singh, Co-founder and CEO, Zouk said, “In Stellaris, we have found the right partner, who can guide us to become an iconic brand in the coming years. We are excited that Rahul Chowdhri, Partner at Stellaris, will join our board. His vast experience of guiding multiple companies from their early stages to massive size and lucrative exits will be a big plus for us. Our first milestone is to scale Zouk to a 100 cr brand in the next couple of years. We then want to chart the path to hitting 1000 crores in the next few years.”
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| Zouk Product |
"The Indian D2C market is at its prime today; consumers have undergone a mindset shift in choosing to go online for their shopping needs and COVID-19 has further accelerated this behavior. There’s never been a better time to build new-age consumer brands in and from India. E-commerce marketplaces and social media platforms provide a level-playing field for challenger brands like Zouk to compete with incumbent brands, and carve their own niche”, Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners said.
“We are excited to partner with Disha and Pradeep in their journey towards building Zouk as one of the leading D2C lifestyle brands from India. Zouk’s phenomenal growth has been fueled by the rise in conscious consumerism and moreover, purpose-led brand love has paved the way for building a special resonance with style enthusiasts, offering a unique business opportunity into a fairly niche segment such as vegan fashion”, he added.
Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital said, "Zouk has received phenomenal customer love, which has fueled their consistent growth across online channels in the past few months. We are happy to double down on our investment in this round, as we truly believe that this is a rocketship that will massively scale up to hit 100s of crores of Net Annual revenues in this decade. Impossible to stop fantastic Disha and Pradeep."
This round also saw participation from the founders of Wow Skin Science, a hugely successful D2C international brand from India. Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder of Wow Skin Science said, “Zouk’s 100% Vegan products, with a mix of style and function, have massive potential in global markets. The real kicker for me was that all their products have an essence of Indian handicraft and craftsmanship, which I believe will resonate well with consumers in the US, Canada and Europe."
About Stellaris Venture Partners
Stellaris Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in tech-enabled Consumer and Enterprise startups in India. Mamaearth, Whatfix, mFine, Vogo and Shop101 are a few notable investments of Stellaris. Stellaris also has a network of successful founders and business professionals to advise portfolio companies and selectively co-invest with the fund.
About Zouk
Zouk is a Proudly Indian and 100% Vegan Direct to Consumer (D2C) brand for Bags, Wallets and Accessories.
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| Zouk Indian Collection |
The company was founded by Disha Singh and Pradeep Krishnakumar, both batchmates at IIM Ahmedabad. The idea of Zouk was born when Disha visited Kutch for an IIMA course. She saw that her friends loved the local handicraft items but did not buy any, given they were not functional. Thus, they set out on the mission of bringing to customers, stylish and functional products with an Essence of India.
Zouk's current set of products include Laptop Bags, Office Bags, Backpacks, Handbags, Sling Bags, Tote Bags, Women’s Wallets, Mini Wallets and Passport Holders.
All products are handmade by expert artisans in their in-house manufacturing facility in Mumbai. Customers love the fact that the products are Vegan, with Indian prints and modern functionalities. Zouk is in fact a PeTA approved Vegan brand.
Zouk is popular on social media, with over 100,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook.
Zouk website - https://zouk.co.in/
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