Exclusive: Weddingz.in gets pre-Series A funding from Sixth Sense Ventures

Weddingz.in, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from consumer-centric venture fund Sixth Sense Ventures.

The Mumbai-based startup will use the money raised for technology, automation and team expansion. L Fast Brands Pvt Ltd, which runs Weddingz.in, plans to expand its category offerings to include decor, catering and honeymoon packages. Besides weddings, the firm intends to offer services for birthdays and anniversaries. "The company will also use the funds to ramp up its website by offering virtual tours; it is also developing a mobile app," said founder and CEO Sandeep Lodha.

Lodha, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and The Wharton School, started Weddingz.in about 13 months ago. Currently, the firm is present in 10 cities, including Delhi, Bangalore and Goa. The company expects to have operations in 20 cities by 2016-end.

"We are growing 35 per cent month on month," Lodha claims, adding that Weddingz.in facilitated about 100 bookings in December.

Weddingz.in provides wedding venue recommendations. It also connects users with wedding service providers such as photographers, makeup and mehendi artists and planners.

In November, the startup had raised about $1 million (around Rs 6.7 crore) in angel funding from a group of investors, including Google India's managing director Rajan Anandan.

A bunch of startups that seek to connect couples with wedding planners has emerged in the last 12 months. The market for wedding-related services is estimated to be worth $40 billion in India, according to US-based venture capital firm CerraCap Ventures. Some of these ventures have also secured external funding.

In December 2015, CerraCap invested in NDTV's online wedding and festival planning portal Special Occasions Ltd.

In September, wedding planning portal WedMeGood raised seed funding worth Rs 2.7 crore ($407,200) from Indian Angel Network. Others in the Indian online wedding planning space include WeddingPlz, PlanningWale and FullOnShaadi.

Sixth Sense Ventures was founded in 2013 by Nikhil Vora, formerly managing director and co-head of research at IDFC Securities. It recently invested in oral care products company JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt Ltd.