5 Online Fashion Startups To Watch

Fashion means a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body or furniture. And to know what is in fashion then online shopping will assist you. If Myntra and Jabong are the only names that come to mind when you think of online fashion in India, then you ain’t seen nothing yet. The fashion e-retail market in India is spawning a galaxy of startup stars that are beginning to glitter. Here we dig out some gold for you – five startups. After all, who doesn’t want to look good?

1. Flyrobe

Flyrobe is the Mumbai-based online fashion rental service that had clothed the woman, as the third party in this happy trio. Launched by 3 individuals of IIT-Bombay Grads named as Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana, and Tushar Saxena in September 2015. By operating Flyrobe’s website or application you can get western as well as ethnic wear on rent. After booking your western dress, it will be received by you in 3 hours. You can also book your ethnic dress from 2 days to 2 months in advance. No security deposit for branded clothing and only a minimal 20% deposit for designer wear. The startup claims to have transacted with 1,000 customers already, and closed 2015 with 100 customers on a single day when it was just 15 weeks old. Flyrobe estimates that the fashion rental market, including western and ethnic wear in large Indian cities, is worth $4-5 billion. Around 40,000 people have downloaded its app, and there are 14,000 who open it on a monthly basis. Customers can also access Flyrobe app on their mobile phones. The app is available for Android users.

2. Roposo

Roposo is a social network for fashion addicts. It is a social network to share your photos, discover new trends and follow creative people. The startup was introduced by 3 individuals of IIT-Delhi alumni named as Mayank Bhangadia, Avinash Saxena, and Kaushal Shubhank in Gurgaon in 2014. Even you can share posts about style, hobbies and creative favorite list. Shop for curated products from 300+ web stores like Jabong, Koovs and Flipkart. Roposo has seen 2 million active users since the app was launched in April last year, Roposo recently raised a $5 million funding round. With this tranche of investment, which came from Bertelsmann India Investments, Roposo closed its series B round. The first tranche of its series B funding round came last August from Tiger Global. With the fresh funding, Roposo might add new categories to its bunch of offerings. Customers can also access Roposo app on their mobile phone. The app is available for Android as well as iOS users.

3. Voonik

The Bangalore-based startup is a fashion marketplace for women. It was started by 2 individuals named as Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan in 2013. It is the first-of-its-kind personalization-on-steroids platform that understands the users, shows them the right stylist recommendations, and personalizes the content and the presentation. It works on a 10,000 rule algorithm to help users find the right product on the basis of filters like skin tone, body type and preferences. Before developing a website, this startup was launched as a personal mobile application. Voonik acqui-hired TrialKart in August 2015, Getsty in February 2016 and Zohra in June 2016. According to a report published by VCCircle in June 2016, the e-commerce platform claims to have an annual gross merchandise volume of more than $80 million, with over 10 million registered users and 8 million app downloads. Voonik today boasts over 1.5 million products. Customers can also access Voonik app on their mobile phones. The app is available for Android and iOS users.

4. Wooplr

Wooplr is India’s first fashion discovery app which was launched entirely by men though 90% of its users are women. Arjun Zacharia, Praveen Rajaretnam, Soumen Sarkar, Ankit Sabharwal, four ex-McAfee employees started Wooplr as a place for sharing fashion photos in 2011. It is a Bangalore based startup which tells you what’s trending around you and lets you share your style statement. When users post their pictures in various outfits, it is showcased to others with details of where to buy both online and offline. Wooplr has also raised an undisclosed amount funding from the Co-founders of InMobi, Naveen Tewari, Abhay Singhal, and Amit Gupta, InMobi Chief Product Officer Piyush Shah, TaxiForSure Co-founder Raghunandan G, and ex-Puma India CEO Rajiv Mehta. They joined Wooplr as Board advisors. Wooplr claims to have 2 million women customers and 20,000 monthly transactions. Customers can also access Wooplr app on their mobile phones. The app is available for Android and iOS users.

5. LimeRoad

LimeRoad is an online shopping platform of India engaged in the domain of fashion and lifestyle and has its head office in Gurgaon, Haryana and was discovered by Suchi Mukherjee, Prashant Malik, and Ankush Mehra in 2012. LimeRoad was created to bring their customers products they will fall in love with; a chance to create their own space, to tap into those hidden talents and make their personal looks and collections; to help them share their creations with friends to get that second opinion, to inspire or be inspired; and to help them shop in a way that they will find mesmerizing. The company literally has millions of looks being created by users every month through a scrapbook tool. The company has announced a series C fund raise of $30 million in 2015. Tiger Global Management, an existing investor, leads the new round with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India. Previously, LimeRoad raised a $15 million Series B round in May, 2014. The series C round of funding takes the total amount to over $50 million. Customers can also access LimeRoad app on their mobile phones. The app is available for Android and iOS users.