E-Commerce is still on folks, albeit in numerous other niche categories than just the plain simple model. DailyObjects, which an online gadget accessories store selling smartphone and MacBook cases, has raised $1.3 Million in a fresh round from Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures, along with the participation of Peyush Bansal, fonder of LensKart and Phanindra Sama, founder of redBus (via LiveMint).
Interestingly though, the company has raised this round to go into the offline model, along with its current online one. DailyObjects is currently planning to launch 100 exclusive and store-in-store outlets by the end of February of this year.
Out of the 100 outlets that the company has planned, three exclusive outlets will be set at the airports of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, while the rest would include shop-in- shop kiosks that will be launched across Delhi NCR.
The company has already started working on its offline stores project and in the last couple of weeks, it has set up five of the outlets in Delhi region.
DailyObjects co-founder and CEO, Pankaj Garg said in a prepared statement,
Receiving funding from some of the most astute investors in the country vindicates our business strategy and gives us the means to execute our vision of selling products that democratise art & design.
DailyObjects’ went against the market trend and differentiated with our collection of art, something no other Indian brand has done before. The company’s success has proved that the Indian consumer values great design and considers it a premium feature. This funding will allow us to launch many new lines of personal products that combine functionality with incredible style; allowing Indian consumers’ unique means of self-expression that no other brand provides.
Founded in 2011 by Pankaj Garg and Saurav Adlakha, DailyObjects claims to be the first Indian online seller to exclusively focus on smartphone cases. It offers premium cases for smartphones and MacBook. While the company is currently selling polycarbonate cases only, it is planning to launch leather smartphone and sunglass cases shortly.
Instead of keeping a design team, the company has tied up with more than 60 Indian and foreign artists who designs the product. They receive commission for every sale of the product with their design. It claims to have 5,500 designs with over 200,000 stock keeping units.
Almost 30 percent of its business is by offering customized cases which allows users to get the product with their own designs. It claims to be dispatching a decent 15,000 cases every month, earning Rs.2.25 crore in revenue.
In India, DailyObjects competes against the likes of LatestOne, which recently raised Rs. 20 crore in funding from existing investors Palred Technologies Ltd.
