Voonik raises Rs 133 crores fresh funds

Bangalore-based startup Voonik Technologies, which owns and operates fashion ecommerce platform Voonik, has raised 20 million dollars (Rs 133 crores) in fresh round of funding. The latest funding has been led by, Sequoia Capital, with Seedfund, also an early backer of the firm, and a clutch of new investors. The new investors include, Japanese ecommerce operator Beenos, Singapore-based venture capital fund Beenext, Tancom Investments and Times Internet, the digital product and investment arm of the Times Group, the publisher of this newspaper. Proceeds from the Series B round will be used towards strengthening all three product categories on its platform, which includes premium products category Vilara, menswear offering Mr Voonik, and its core women-focused vertical.

Meanwhile Voonik acquired three startups to build its premium fashion product Vilara. In last six months the Sequoia-backed company has acquired five start-ups. Voonik has done this to strengthen its leadership in the unbranded fashion segment. It is also trying to expand through acqui-hires or team acquisitions of start-ups in niche fashion offerings.

The three companies that have been acquired are online marketplace for designers and boutiques. Zohraa, Picksilk and Styl are the three start-ups. These three have very small teams. Zohraa has a 12-person teams, Picksilk has an eight-member team while Styl has nine-member team. The latter connects stylists and salons with customers.

A month ago Voonik acqui-hired menswear focused fashion portal Getsy leveraging on whose expertise, it forayed into the menswear segment with its app Mr Voonik. The app offers a wide range of men’s clothings and accessories as well as save shopping time for men by offering personalisation services. Sujayath Ali, CEO and co-founder, Voonik points out that they always had a vision of becoming the country’s largest fashion destination. So, now with over seven million app downloads and nine million registered users, Voonik is already the fastest growing companies in the sector.