Ethnic e-tailer Craftsvilla gets $34M more from Sequoia & others

Mumbai-based Kribha Handicrafts Pvt Ltd, which runs e-commerce marketplace for ethnic products Craftsvilla, has raised $34 million in Series C funding from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Nexus Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital and Apoletto also participated in this round of funding, The Times of India, which first reported the development, said in a report.

The Craftsvilla management did not respond to queries sent by Techcircle.in till the time of filing this report.

The startup will use the money to strengthen technology and product capabilities, enhance customer care and expand into newer geographies.

"We are looking at a valuation of at least $1 billion in 12-18 months before we go public. Our aim is to hit $500 million in GMV over the next one year," The Times of India report quoted Manoj Gupta, CEO of Craftsvilla, as saying. Currently, Craftsvilla clocks GMV of $120 million.

The company, which has operations in India and Malaysia (where it entered recently), is looking to launch its operations in Indonesia. A significant part of the funds will be used for international expansion.

Founded in 2011 by husband-wife duo Manoj and Monica Gupta, Craftsvilla e-tails products across categories such as clothing, handicrafts, jewellery and art. It follows the business model of US-based Etsy, which created a successful P2P marketplace for handmade products. The startup claims to have 25,000 sellers on its platform, selling close to 3.5 million products.

Craftsvilla, which is looking to go public in 12-18 months, will also launch private labels over the next few months, as they offer higher margins, the report said.

In May, VCCircle had reported that Craftsvilla was in talks with existing investors—Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital and Lightspeed Ventures— besides other VCs and hedge funds for its Series C round of funding.

In April, Craftsvilla raised $18 million (Rs 113 crore) from Sequoia Capital and others. Global Founders Capital, which is promoted by the Samwer brothers of Rocket Internet, participated in that round.

In 2011, Craftsvilla raised Rs 2.3 crore from Nexus and Lightspeed in an early-stage round of funding. In 2012, both the investors jointly invested around Rs 8 crore ($1.3 million) in the company's Series A round of funding.

Craftsvilla would compete with the likes of IMBling, Indiabazaaronline and Mirraw, among others. The online ethnic wear segment is estimated to have a market size of $300-500 million.