Cherishmaternity secures angel funding from Blume, angel investors

Cherishmaternity, an e-shop offering maternity wear & infant products and run by Bangalore-based Cherish Life Products Pvt Ltd, has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from a group of investors including Blume Ventures, Rehan Yar Khan, Rajan Anandan, Sunil Kalra, Farooq Oomerbhoy and others.

The company started its e-commerce operations in 2011 while three of its brick-and-mortar stores are located in Bangalore under the brand name Cherish. It has partnered with other offline stores to source its merchandise and the product range includes cotton apparels for moms-to-be, accessories (pillows, belts and more), nightwear, baby shower gifts and more. The venture was set up by Arathi Kuppu who was associated with companies like Palm Inc, Nokia and AltaVista Search in the US.

According to a company statement, the money raised will be utilised to expand its offerings and further develop its online presence. "We want to establish Cherish as the most preferred brand in the maternity, motherhood and infant category in the next 12-18 months," said Kuppu. "Cherishmaternity is an exciting brand as it addresses the five million-strong annual maternity market. This market is largely underserved, both online and offline. In Arathi Kuppu, a mother herself, we have an experienced and competent founder who is not just retailing maternity products but also building a strong brand," said Rehan Yar Khan, who would join the board of Cherish as part of the deal.

Rajiv Prakash, ex-CEO of FutureBazaar.com, and R. Sathyajit, COO of Allen Solly are professional advisors to Kuppu while Creedcap Asia and Link Legal assisted in this deal.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)