Fast fashion brand focussed on gen Z, Newme, on Wednesday told ET that it has raised $5.4 million (Rs 45 crore) in a seed funding round led by Fireside Ventures.
The Bengaluru-based startup, which currently sells its own brand of clothing across both online and offline outlets was founded in 2022. It had in the past raised an undisclosed round of funding from investors such as Aum Ventures, 2am VC and All In Capital, all of whom have participated in the current round.
“With this new round of capital, we are going to enhance our supply chain and scale-up the manufacturing in the country, go from two to 20 cities in our offline play with 1.5 lakh square feet of space, and build a stronger technology team over the course of the coming 12 months,” founder and CEO Sumit Jasoria told ET.
Currently, about 35% of the brand’s apparel base is manufactured in Mumbai and the rest in China. Jasoria said the brand is working on bringing the local base up to 50% in the near term.
Catering to Gen Z – those born between mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s – Newme has serviced over 3.5 lakh customers across its website and stores till date. The brand is able to create 500 designs per week, changing a curated collection, largely using technology that is guided by four designers.
Newme opened its first two stores in Bengaluru – in Forum South Mall in July 2023 and Orion Mall Rajajinagar in October 2023. The third was opened in December 2023 in Infiniti Mall Malad in Mumbai. Newer cities in the plan include Chandigarh and Jaipur, Jasoria added.
Jasoria was previously managing the growth of ecommerce venture Daraz across Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the head of Meero, a company that provides fashion professional photography, artificial intelligence-based image management and quality enhancement services, in India, among other roles.
“Today, the fast fashion space has become less a fashion game and more a technology game,” he added. Newme currently retails its apparel at an average price point of Rs 900. Its average billing value comes to about Rs 1,500 online and Rs 2,500 offline, Jasoria told ET.
The brand has largely built its consumer base so far by appealing to students across about 300 colleges in 150 cities using campus ambassador programmes, Jasoria added.
