Accel Partners Invests in Jewellery Ecommerce Venture BlueStone.com

BlueStone.com has attracted an initial investment of $5MM from renowned VC firm Accel Partners and serial entrepreneur Meena Ganesh, CEO & MD of Pearson Education Services.

BlueStone is founded by Vidya Nataraj and Gaurav Kushwaha. An MBA from INSEAD and having had extensive experience with family-owned Landmark Ltd (a books and lifestyle pan-India retail chain later sold to TATA Trent), Vidya's pedigree brings strong retail and consumer understanding to the table. She is married to a fifth generation jeweller, Ganesh Narayan, Joint MD of C. Krishniah Chetty & Sons.

A Computer Science engineer from IIT (Delhi) and CEO of Chakpak.com, Gaurav brings his Amazon experience in eCommerce, online marketing and technology.

"BlueStone.com is India's first exclusive and aspirational online brand for fine jewellery and accessories aiming to give a new dimension to jewellery shopping. We are catering to the trendy and evolved Indian consumer by providing access to a large variety of carefully selected international designs by jewellery experts coupled with excellent craftsmanship, quality and shopping convenience on a trusted platform." said Vidya Nataraj, founder, BlueStone.com.

Meena Ganesh, who is one of the top women executives in India and a promoter of BlueStone, added, "BlueStone.com empowers working women who can now find great contemporary designs, affordable fashion and trusted jewellery at the convenience of their work or home. I am proud to be associated with BlueStone and sure that women will find excellent jewellery at the site and will love it as much as I do."

"We are very excited to be part of this unique opportunity to create a jewellery brand that combines trust with a compelling online buying experience" said Prashanth Prakash, partner of Accel Partners. "Accel has invested in several leading eCommerce companies and is confident that BlueStone.com will be the dominant online jewellery company in India.".

Branded jewellery market is small in India and the unorganized market comes with its own problems of quality and purity; BlueStone.com overcomes this by providing international third-party laboratory certification of all its products.