Cricketer Umesh Yadav angel funds Kolkata-based Fashionove, starts his new innings as investor

In a recent development of cricket and startup ecosystem coming together, Indian cricketer Umesh Yadav has ventured into the startup space. He angel funded an undisclosed amount to a Kolkata-based fashion startup called Fashionove, which is an online, hyperlocal fashion search, review and commerce portal.

Cofounded by Sharad Kumar and Tanushree Khandelwal, Fashionove, a location-based hyperlocal fashion search and review portal, connects shoppers with local independent fashion stores and boutiques.

Umesh says,

Fashionove aims at bridging the offline-online gap by organising the unorganised Indian fashion retail market. I liked the commitment, skill and, more importantly, the zeal the team possesses and consequently agreed to invest in the venture.

He adds that there lies a huge opportunity to organise the unexplored Indian fashion retail market by enabling online access for offline stores.

The Kolkata-based startup claims to be the first company to provide such a service, and it has its beta version live already, with over 800 boutiques data spanning three cities - Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi.

Talking about the funding, Tanushree says,

The funding came at a very strategic phase as Fashionove was about to launch its app and a revamped website. It is a stepping stone in making the product stronger and richer with data.

She adds that the funds will be used for the product development — launch of app and website — and for authentic and rich data collection in the three cities.

The website’s target group is both men and women between the age group of 18 and 40, who love to surf and shop fashion online. It also focuses on people who have moved to a new city and would like to know the best places to shop in the city. The venture seeks to help customers make prior shopping plans with ease, to ensure they get the products of their choice in the most competitive price.

Talking about the startup ecosystem, Umesh says,

The technology boom has provided a platform to showcase talent. India is a young nation with immense capability; hence the startup ecosystem is bound to grow only exponentially.

In the past few months, Indian cricket has shown rising interest in the startup industry. In April this year, the maiden investment of Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan Venture in beauty and wellness startup Vyomo rang in the new relationship between cricket and startups. Last month, Paytm clinched a USD 32-million deal with BCCI for sponsoring all bilateral series to be played by India over next four years.

With Umesh entering the startup segment, the tie-up of the two industries has become vibrant and has set the trend for many other cricketers to follow in the future.

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