Ratan Tata backed BlueStone.com raises Rs 100 Cr funding
Online jewellery destination BlueStone.com, today announced a third round of VC funding, worth Rs 100 crore. The funding is led by Accel Partners, IVY Capital and Dragoneer, with participation from Kalaari Capital and Saama Capital. Earlier in September 2014, Ratan Tata had also invested in the company.
Deployment of Rs 100 Cr
BlueStone will continue to invest a significant portion of the funds in marketing efforts to build a strong and distinctive brand. With the current revenue run rate of 80-100 Cr per annum, BlueStone has grown by 150% year on year. According to Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, co-founder and CEO of BlueStone, consumers are far more comfortable buying jewellery online today, than a year back. The eco-system in India has enabled trust in the e-commerce sector. He's eyeing at over 200% growth every year for the next 2-3 years.
BlueStone is expanding its team to cater to the growing demand. Currently with 250 employees, BlueStone is expected to add close to 150 more people across levels in the next 6 months. The expansion will enable the team to launch more designs more frequently. Company is also focusing on improving the user experience on mobile and desktop platform.
Uniqueness
Vikram Gupta, Managing Partner at IvyCap Ventures mentioned that their decision to invest in BlueStone team roots from their belief in the team due to their strong pedigree of IIT and IIMs.
The Bangalore-based BlueStone is unique due to its vertically integrated model from manufacturing to e-tailing. Owning its supply chain end to end enables BlueStone to deliver consistently high quality experience to its customers. Additionally, through its unique operating model, BlueStone is amongst the few e-commerce start-ups in India which are operationally profitable.
The Indian jewellery market which comprises real and imitation jewellery is in the region of Rs 251,000 crore (US$ 41.61 billion) in 2013, with potential to touch Rs 500,000–530,000 crore (US$ 82.94–87.93 billion) by 2018, according to a joint report by FICCI –AT Kearney titled ‘All that glitters is Gold: India Jewellery Review 2013’. Bluestone wants to make sure that some of this glitter rubs on them.