With participation from current investors Fireside Ventures and AUM Ventures, Gen-Z-focused fast fashion brand Newme has raised $18 million in its Series A round led by Accel.
The startup, situated in Bengaluru, had raised $5.4 million in January of this year. Moreover, in November 2022, it raised an undisclosed round from investors like Aum Ventures, 2am VC, and All In Capital.
As stated in a press release, Newme plans to use the additional funding to fortify supply-chain technology and increase its omnichannel presence.
Currently, Newme sells its own line of clothing through both online and physical stores. It was founded by Shivam Tripathi, Sumit Jasoria, and Vinod Naik.
Since July of last year, Newme has expanded to five new cities and six retail locations. Its first retail store opened in Bengaluru. Across 20 major cities, including underserved areas like Guwahati, Shillong, and Imphal, Newme hopes to open 40–50 stores in the next 12–18 months.
The company says that revenue has increased by about 9X in the last 18 months, and this year, it expects to grow by at least three times.
The last few years have seen a respectable amount of funding secured for fast fashion brands. To put things in perspective, Libas, an omnichannel ethnic wear brand, raised $18 million in its first funding round. French Crown, DSLR, and Virgio are a few other well-known names.
Notably, venture capital funding for the fast fashion industry is not a recent development. Several fast fashion brands, including Zovi, Freecultr, Voonik, and YepMe, were funded by investors between 2012 and 2017, but none of them were able to compete with the Western companies that continue to have a significant following in the nation.
However, there is undoubtedly potential for creating a business similar to Shein, which grew to be a titan. And it would be interesting to watch if future and current startups, or corporate giants like Reliance, Tata, and Birla, would build such a company.
