Actor Athiya Shetty turns entrepreneur, invests in India’s leading social commerce platform Stage3

Actor Athiya Shetty has turned entrepreneur by investing in India’s social commerce platform Stage3.

According to a press statement, Athiya will provide creative and financial backing to Stage3 as it builds the next generation of fashion shopping powered by the creator economy. Athiya will take on the role of Stage3’s creative director. 

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There has been an exponential rise of creators-turned-entrepreneurs globally and in India. Fenty Beauty by Rihanna is valued at $2.8B, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have both launched brands in the fashion and beauty space valued at over $1B. In India, Katrina Kaif has seen the success of Kay Beauty & multiple other celebrities are associated with large digital brands.

“I have always expressed myself through fashion, and love being a part of the creator economy. I’d been looking for the right platform through which I could empower others to also begin their journey towards becoming a ‘creator’ and I found that with Stage3," Athiya said on her association with Stage3.

"I love the fact that they are building a new paradigm for fashion shopping. There’s such a wealth of untapped potential and Stage3 is leading the way to becoming a conduit of success for the upcoming generation of creators. I’m delighted to be working with them on this," she added.

Founded in 2016 by Sabena Puri and Sanchit Baweja, the Delhi-based startup initially provided today’s fashion-forward millennials access to glamorous fashion through a rental business model where it would make expensive designer wear available to its users at a fraction of the MRP.

In 2018, the startup launched its D2C home-grown fashion brand Alaya, which collaborates with prominent influencers and designers to create capsule collections to bridge the gap between aspiration and affordability.

In October 2021, Stage3 launched its influencer-driven social commerce app to build the next generation of fashion commerce for young Indians.

The startup recently raised Rs 20 crore from Blume Ventures, Inflection Point Ventures, Nueva Ventures, Eragon Ventures, Let’s Venture, Stanford Angels, Ananth Narayanan (Founder, Mensa Brands), Dinesh Aggarwal (CEO, India Mart) and Sashwat Nakrani (Co-Founder, Bharat Pe),