Entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal, who has founded ventures such as Cultfit, is in talks to close a funding round from marquee investors such as Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia India) and Accel for his new premium fashion venture, according to sources.
Mukesh Bansal, who founded ventures such as Myntra and Cultfit, is launching a new venture which will be in the premium fashion space aimed at Gen Z, with Mohit Gupta. He was previously the co-founder of Zomato where he led the company’s food delivery business,
Bansal’s Meraki Labs collaborates with companies to identify needs and build products. It already works with Skyroot, Groww, Gigforce, and several other startups. “There are talks going on, however no term sheet has been signed till now,” said one of the sources.
Peak XV Partners and Accel did not respond to businessline queries.
Huge shopper base
India has the world’s third largest online shopper base. According to a report by Bain & Co, one in three online shoppers is a Gen Z and their online fashion purchase is at entry-price points. It said Gen Z will become a ‘critical cohort in the future’ for all things e-commerce, especially fashion, as needs are fast-changing. A separate report by McKinsey said Gen Z loves expressive clothes, wants to stand out, and has an ever-changing style.
This comes at a time when many players have entered the space. Online fashion retailer Myntra rolled out dedicated services for the Gen Z called FWD in May. While, e-commerce giant Flipkart Fashion has launched an in-app fashion platform Spoyl for the so-called Gen Z, which will have more than 40,000 fashion products, including western wear, accessories and footwear, in a diverse collection of designs.