Fashion app Roposo gets $5M in Series B funding from Bertelsmann investment arm

Gurgaon-based Relevant e-solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs fashion discovery app Roposo, has raised $5 million (around Rs 34 crore) in the second leg of its Series-B round from Bertelsmann India Investments (BII).

The funds will be used for strengthening its technology backbone, expanding its team, bolstering the product and enhancing its user community.

Roposo had raised $15 million (Rs 100crore)in the first leg of its Series-B funding from existing investor Tiger Global Management in August 2015. With the latest round, the company has raised $21 million (Rs 140 crore) till date.

In March 2015, it had raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global. India Quotient and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal also participated in that round.

"We see tremendous promise in Roposo as a social network and as a business model," said Pankaj Makkar, managing director, BII, in a statement.

Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) is the strategic investment arm of Gütersloh (Germany) headquartered mass media corporation Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. It focuses on early-stage as well as growth-stage investments in digital, education, media and services sectors in India.

Founded in July 2014 by IIT Delhi alumni Mayank Bhangadia, Avinash Saxena and Kaushal Shubhank, Roposo is a fashion social network that offers curated fashion choices across categories such as apparels, footwear, accessories and lingerie from over 500 web stores and 5,000 brands. A mobile-only platform, Roposo claims to have more than 2 million active users on its platform.

While Roposo is perhaps one of the most funded ventures in the fashion discovery space, a couple of other fashion discovery platforms have also raised funding.

Earlier this month, Mumbai-based Hippily Technology Pvt Ltd, operator of Hippily shopping personalisation app for women, raised $250,000 (Rs 1.66 crore) in seed funding.

Last month, Wooplr Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs a platform that enables hyperlocal discovery of products and commerce, received an undisclosed amount of funding from InMobi and TaxiForSure founders.

In the same month, personalised fashion app WithMe raised $250,000 in angel funding from a group of investors comprising Alex Kuruvilla, managing director, CondeNast India; Pradeep Guha, former head of Zee Group and BCCL; Saket Dhankar, head, Lakme Fashion Week; and serial entrepreneur and investor Rajan Pandhare.

Earlier in March, Zappka, a mobile platform that allows users to discover, review and share apps, raised $100,000 in angel funding from Planet GoGo founders Daman Soni and Rajat Gupta, besides a bunch of affluent individuals.

In February, Delhi-based Styledotme Fashion and Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, which operates mobile fashion app Styledotme, has secured funding from the Indian Angel Network.