[Funding alert] Melorra raises $12.5M from Symphony Asia, Lightbox Ventures, Alteria Capital, others

Melorra, a Bengaluru-based jewellery startup, on Wednesday announced that it has raised $12.50 million in funding from Symphony Asia (one of Asia’s first private equity firms), Lightbox Ventures and Alteria Capital. Others who participated in the round included existing and new family offices of Burman, Jeejeebhoy and others.

The startup said the funds will be used for technological innovations, product innovations, and marketing to grow the brand awareness and position Melorra as the choice of a new generation.

“Melorra is operating at positive unit economics and rapidly regaining its pre-COVID-19 level revenues. This can be attributed to the fact that we are a leader in the daily wear lightweight, trendy jewellery segment. The added benefit during the pandemic is that we are available online which helps us address the customer concerns around trust and safety,” said Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO, Melorra.

Saroja added, “Melorra has proved its business model and we continue to improve our offerings. Although raising capital has been tough in the market, funding in this period has re-established the investors belief in the business model and team.

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Melorra has been into the lightweight gold jewellery segment ever since it started operations in 2016. The company claims that it has been recording accelerated growth in order value and numbers ever since the lockdown was lifted. The brand has witnessed a 4X increase in both organic and direct traffic compared to last Diwali and the ASP (average selling price) has grown by 40 percent compared to pre-Covid levels, it said.

With 160 employees currently, Melorra also added that it has delivered to over 1700 towns in the country and made its mark everywhere - from cities with a population of less than 10,000 to those above 1 million.

Siddharth Talwar, Co-founder of Lightbox Ventures, said, 

‘In March when the pandemic hit, like so many other businesses around the world, Melorra saw sales volumes drop drastically, the future of the jewellery market questioned, and online search traffic heavily decreased. But over the past four months, they have turned the business on its head, in what’s been nothing short of a masterclass. Not only is their revenue on track to surpass pre-COVID-19 levels, but they’ve done it while cutting their marketing spend by over 50 percent, and achieving positive unit economics.”

The company's last fundraise was in October 2019, and it has raised a total of $36.5 million till date, including the current round. In 2016, the firm raised one of the largest seed rounds of $5 million.