Ecomm firm EkAnek raises $5.5 mn to fund international expansion

Delhi-based EkAnek Networks, which operates beauty and grooming platform Foxy, has raised Rs 40 crore ($5.5 million at current exchange rates) in the latest tranche of the Series A funding round to fuel its expansion to Abu Dhabi.

The UAE capital will be the global base for the firm’s international expansion to the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Middle East and North Africa region, and other regional markets, a statement said. The two-year-old ecommerce startup said it will build a team of data scientists, product managers and engineers in the city.

The latest round was led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), a $300 million venture fund managed by New York headquartered hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital. Returning investors Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed India also participated in the round, the statement said.

The startup previously raised $5.73 million Series A capital from Lightspeed India, Sequoia, Matrix Partners, ED Innovation Labs and Rajan Anandan in March, according to VCCEdge data.

Founded in 2018 by IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Kartik Sheth and IIT Kharagpur graduate Chandranshu Sinha, EkAnek is building a fashion and lifestyle ecommerce platform that focuses on discovery, social engagement, entertainment and advice. 

It creates influencer networks, content, commerce platforms and other support infrastructure for brands in the lifestyle category. It also offers open stack solutions for partner brands to build direct-to-consumer (DTC) operations, such as curation, brand logistics, marketing tools, influencer networks and video commerce solutions.

Foxy brings beauty influencers, artists and brands on a single platform for a “personalised shopping experience” and offers curated content from experts. The startup claims to have over 120 brands and more than 6,000 beauty and grooming influencers on its platform.

“Foxy will offer mobile-first consumers a differentiated approach to supply, curation and fulfilment of beauty products. In addition, EkAnek’s unique B2B2C full-stack offering will drive tighter brand relationships with the platforms and consumers, to offer consumers globally an unrivalled experience of beauty products,” Navroz Udwadia, co-founder and partner of lead investor Falcon Edge, said.