Online-jewellery marketplace Joolz raises 3.3 crore in Series A funding

Aiming to boost its operations, products, and marketing and build its team, Mumbai-based online jewellery marketplace Joolz has raised Rs 3.3 crore in a pre-Series-A round led by Silicon Valley-based Powerhouse Ventures and Japan’s M&S Partners.

Other investors, who participated in the round, include Ah! Ventures; Deepak Kasthwal, the former finance head of ride-hailing app Ola; PKX Thomas, the former chief technology officer of online travel agency Cleartrip; and Mahesh Ahuja, the director at Brittman.

Arnaud Lorie, the founder of Joolz, said, “The opportunities for growth are massive here. The offline or traditional Indian jewellery market has been estimated at $40 billion while the online jewellery market, which is still nascent, is currently valued at about $200 million by a number of industry reports.”

The online jewellery market in India is expected to grow to $3.6 billion over the next three years.

“Buying jewellery is so closely intertwined with Indian culture that the act of simply selling it online is not going to create any significant impact in the market. We, therefore, want to be the single biggest facilitator of jewellery commerce, whether online or more importantly, offline,” added Lorie.

Sri Peddu, the managing director of Powerhouse Ventures, who invested in Joolz, said, “What attracted us most was the company’s rich understanding of the jewellery space and the passion with which they are planning to transform the way consumers interact with jewellery, online and offline.”

Founded in June 2015 by Arnaud Lorie and Eli Atlas, Joolz is an app based virtual mobile jewellery store. The platform works like Tinder, where users can like and dislike various jewellery.

The app claims to offers discounts on various brands, free shipping, 30 days return and cash on delivery . Jewellery featured includes earrings, necklaces, pendants, bangles and pins in gold, silver and diamond.

Other players in this space are Bluestone, who has raised a Rs 200 crore Series D round last month while Tata Group firm Titan picked up a 62% stake in Caratlane for Rs 357.24 crore.