In light of the recent Caratlane acquisition, BlueStone is also adding more money to its war-chest to compete in the ever-growing precious jewellery market. The online jewellery seller, Bluestone has today announced that it has raised Rs. 200 crore in its Series D round of funding, led by IIFL and Accel Partners.
Along with IIFL and Accel, other key investors, including IvyCap Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and RV Investments have also participated in this round. The company will invest the money infused into building a wholesome designer ecosystem by hiring more talented jewellery designers.
Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder and CEO, BlueStone.com, said,
We are now targeting a four-fold increase in revenues to touch Rs 1000 crore by 2018 and we want to achieve this goal in a profitable and sustainable manner. The new round of investments underscores the success of the company’s vertically integrated full stack online first business model and the enormous untapped potential in the jewellery category.
With the funding raised in this round, the total amount raised by the company has now reached $60 million. It had previously raised $5 million in Series A, $10 million in Series B and $15.8 million in Series C round of funding.
BlueStone was founded in 2011 by Gaurav Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj. It also counts Dragoneer, Saama Capital, Ratan Tata, and Meena Ganesh among some of its early backers.
The website is selling its custom jewellery designs, and has more than 5,000 item listings on the portal. It has a just-in-time manufacturing model where the jewellery is manufactured within days of an order being placed.
With design, manufacturing and logistics capabilities built in-house, the company believes that it can quickly expand its manufacturing capabilities and customize its design offerings as per market trends. In the coming four years, the company is aiming to host over 30,000 listings, the highest for any online player in this segment.
Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners said,
BlueStone.com has posted strong, sustained growth and set several benchmarks in the online jewellery retail industry in India like leveraging technologies such as 3D Visual Merchanding to omni-channel initiative of Home Try-On. We are committed to extend our association with BlueStone.com as we see immense potential in the brand.
BlueStone currently has more than 400 people in its team across various functions. It is a vertically integrated company in the jewellery space. It has its own logistics, factory, and people to go and acquire the raw materials.
As per the company, the Indian jewellery market in India is worth around $60 billion and is projected to cross the $1 10 billion mark in the next five years. However, the online contribution is estimated to be in the $2–3 billion range.
In the online precious jewellery market, Bluestone is in direct competition with Tiger Global-backed Caratlane and Bengaluru-based Melorra. The famous watchmaker Titan has acquired majority 62.5 per cent stake in Caratlane to enhance its arsenal with the inclusion of an online jewellery store in addition to its premium brand Tanishq. Caratlane very much alike Bluestone, too designs and manufactures its jewellery in-house but also has a marketplace model for solitaires sourced from vendors globally.
