[Funding alert] Fashion rental startup Stage3 raises $2M in pre-Series A round led by Blume Ventures

Fashion rental and styling platform Stage3 on Wednesday said that it had raised $ 2 million as a part of its pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures.

According to the startup, the current funds will be utilised to amplify the brand experience, boost its offline footprint, and augment its data capabilities.

Stage3 also plans to collaborate with several prominent celebrities, influencers, and designers in the coming year, adding to the extensive network it has already created.

Founded in 2016 by Sabena Puri, Sanchit Baweja, and Rina Dhaka, the Delhi-based startup focuses on providing today’s fashion-forward millennials affordable access to on-trend, glamorous fashion through rental sand sales.

It targets today’s fashion-forward millennials via a two-pronged approach. First, by making expensive designer wear available to them at a fraction of the MRP through a rental business model. Second, it simultaneously sells capsule collections of ‘elevated basics’ via its home-grown fashion brand Alaya.

Commenting on Stage3’s proposition, CEO and Co-founder Sabena Puri said,

“Through our offerings, we want to bridge this gap and help our customers be on top of today’s fashion game without having to worry about high pricing, seasonality, or storage woes. At Stage3, we have proven that the sharing economy is going to change the way we consume fashion in India."

The startup also lets users list their own designer wear to be rented by others via the platform. All of the platform’s offerings are complemented by the company’s in-house stylists, who provide fashion and styling advice to users for free. Stage3 claims to have registered a strong revenue growth of 350 percent year on year.

Commenting on the investment, Sanchit Baweja, CBO and Co-founder, Stage3, said, 

“We are excited that Blume Ventures has extended their support to us to add to our strong ecosystem of investors and advisors, including Nisha Kumar, Ex-CFO, Rent the Runway; and Anaita Adajania Shroff, Fashion Director, Vogue India. We plan to invest heavily in enhancing our data capabilities and focus on building greater awareness among our target audiences about the rental model we are operating with.”

At present, Stage3’s ecosystem comprises of more than 100 designers, network relations with 25 celebrity stylists, and more than 150 leading bloggers, influencers, and 50 celebrities.

Speaking on the funding, Karthik Reddy, Managing Partner, Blume Ventures, said,

“We’ve known Stage3 and its founders for a few years now. We love their commitment to the model and its ability to take aspirational brands and designs from great designers and luxury wardrobes to a growing mass of aspirational consumers. Rental culture and recycling or reuse is here to stay as youth understand wastage more than the last generation or two. By providing choice, convenience, and prices that special occasions demand in their lives, Stage3 is providing coolness with sustainability in the new India.”

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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