Rent It Bae acquires fashion rental platform Flyrobe

Online fashion rental platform Rent It Bae has merged with Mumbai headquartered fashion rental startup Flyrobe to expand its omnichannel footprint.

Flyrobe’s previous investor STRIVE will remain in the new company. The deal is part-cash and part-stock and the combined business is now valued at $8.4 million, the New Delhi-based company said in a statement.

AARK World, which owns and operates Rent It Bae, said that the new entity will operate under the brand Flyrobe.

Former CEO of Rent It Bae, Anchal Saini, will head the new entity. Ricky Gujral (COO), Karan Gujral (CTO) and Pranay Surana (CSO), will join her on the management board.

Flyrobe, run by Omapal Technologies, was founded in 2015 by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay alumnus Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana and Tushar Saxena. It is an online fashion rental company that provides clothes on rent for men and women. The company has retail stores in Mumbai and Delhi.

Liberent, Rent An Attire, Klozee and Poshmark are its chief competitors in this segment.

Backed by the likes of Sequoia Capital, IDG Ventures and GREE Ventures, Flyrobe claims to offer services to more than 1 million customers in over 30 cities through its website, apps and stores. The company plans to open 15 owned and franchise stores in the next 12 months both at tier 1 and tier 2 cities.

“With our ongoing growth, we are slated to hit the 100 crore mark in the next two years,” Aanchal Saini, CEO, Flyrobe, said.

The current merger shows that fashion platforms are trying to consolidate and strengthen their omnichannel play.

The global online clothing rental market is expected to post a CAGR of nearly 11% during the period 2019-2023, a research report by Technavio recently said.

Indian consumers have traditionally shied away from the idea of renting fashion. However, the popularity of social media and access to disposable income has driven Millenials to explore this segment.

Luxury fashion, fast and rental wear channels have gained traction over the past few months.

New Delhi-based fashion rental and styling platform Stage3 recently raised $2 million in a seed round led by Blume Ventures.

In August, Mumbai-based fashion platform Purple Style Labs, which is backed by Flipkart’s Binny Bansal, acquired multi-brand ecommerce website Pernia’s Pop Up Shop.

House of Masaba, founded by fashion designer Masaba Gupta, also raised $1 million from a group of investors led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal. According to media reports, Purple Style Labs is also an investor in House of Masaba.