Smytten, an online discovery platform for premium products and services, has announced raising of an undisclosed amount in its angel round from Rajan Anandan, Vice President of Google Southeast Asia and India.
As revealed by Swagat Sarangi, co-founder of the company, the fund will be used to launch a new vertical for curated premium experiences for fine dining, events around wine tasting and others. He further added, that since most of the sales are generated through beauty and wellness services, the company will be expanding to Bangalore and Hyderabad with beauty and wellness services.
Talking about the app, Nagaria tells us,
We have designed the Smytten interface with absolute simplicity to make it a delight for our users to interact and use. Also, a strong focus on data driven curation has helped us get extremely high engagement rates, with daily returning users beating industry standards.
Co-founded by Swagata Sarangi and Siddhartha Nangia, Smytten’s aim is to be the ‘bridge to luxury’ for the Indian consumers. Its model is to provide their target consumer base an opportunity to discover and try premium products along with content thereby providing a more engaging overall experience to them. With its strong focus on curation, Smytten addresses individual needs of consumers and also help brands reach the right consumer. The Smytten app is currently available on iOS and Android platform and soon be launching their web version.
The end goal is to revolutionise the way Indian users consume high end products and services.
adds Nagaria
The platform is offering one-stop discovery, free trials for experiencing the brands and recommendations for making purchasing decisions. Its rationalization feature focuses on analytics, with curated offerings for consumers as per their individual preference.
The company has tied up with more than 80 brands so far with the exception of apparel and fashion categories. Along with premium brands from around the world, the company is also partnering with boutique brands that exist in India.
The startup is also working with brands for analytics on new product launches, consumer survey and feedback, with margins ranging from 25% to 40%. Smytten had previously raised $200,000 in seed funding from Rimpal Chawla, former MD of Credit Suisse; and Anuj Srivastava, founder of Livspace.
The premium and super premium market has grown exponentially in the last three years in India. Currently, the categories Smytten has a presence in, is pegged at a massive $6 Billion. This market is estimated to touch $20 Billion by 2020.
