Ratan Tata has made yet another undisclosed investment in his personal capacity into Kaaryah, an online fashion store which offers customised casual wears for women in as many as 18 different sizes. And like all his previous personal investments, the financials remain undisclosed.
Kaaryah, functions as an online apparel brand in itself, with all its products branded under the company’s name. It offers wardrobe solutions that help discover not just the perfect fit but also what flatters different body types.
In an interaction with PTI, Kaaryah Founder Nidhi Agarwal says,
We are honoured by Ratan Tata’s investment in Kaaryah. This validation from Tata is an endorsement, of the highest order, of our vision of creating a world class brand.
Kaaryah’s USP lies in the multitude of apparel sizes it offers, giving a customised fitting for women in as many as 18 different sizes. Speaking on the same, Agarwal says,
It (Kaaryah) is the only brand, globally, that offers western wear in 18 sizes, compared to a global average of 12-13 sizes.
As for Ratan Tata, this will be his seventh publicly known investment into Indian startups. He earlier invested in Paytm parent One97 Communications, Snapdeal, online home decor platform Urban Ladder, Bluestone and CarDekho. Tata’s most notable investment till date however, is that in Xiaomi, which is currently valued to the north of $45 Billion, making it world’s most valued tech startup.
While Ratan Tata has been active investor ever since he retired from the over $100 Billion Tata Sons, I still feel, on a personal note, that most of his investments have been with a rather industrialist approach (that’s pretty obvious though).
If you look at the companies he has invested in, be it Softbank-backed Snapdeal, Sequoia-backed Urban Ladder, or Sequoia/Hillhouse-backed CarDekho, all of these startups have had huge investment coming in from across the globe. And while a strategic investment from Ratan Tata is obviously an honour for all of them, I fail to see how Tata’s industrialist approach is actually ‘helping’ India’s startup ecosystem.
And then, you have that Xiaomi investment coming in, which in all possible cases, makes no sense (in terms of benefits to startups). Just to clarify why I said that, Xiaomi is already valued at $45 Billion+, and a strategic investment from Tata wouldn’t really upscale that valuation.
