Lifestyle retailer Chumbak raises Rs 11 crore from Blacksoil and others

Bangalore-headquartered startup Chumbak Design Private Ltd has raised Rs 11 crore via equity and debt funding between November 2016 and May this year.

The report first made by VCCirlce, which indicates the above deal as per the filings with the Registrar of Companies.

In May, it raised Rs 8 crore in debt from Mumbai-based non-banking financial company Blacksoil Capital Pvt. Ltd, according to the report. It will use the funds to meet its working capital requirements and to expand its stores.

Chumbak was founded in 2009 by Vivek Prabhakar and his wife Shubhra Chadda. Prabhakar worked at Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Fabmart and Titan while Shubhra had earlier worked at Nortel Networks and NetApp.

The company once got fame for having launch free Facebook sticker pack called Chumbak Expressions, which it claims, is the most downloaded sticker pack in the country.

The search giant Google also selected the company as one of three companies worldwide for a case study on how companies have successfully used Google services.

Chumbak introduced a separate line of clothing in October 2015. Prior to that, the company was focused on selling magnets, accessories and home décor products. It focuses on the souvenir and gift market, with unique designs and merchandise. It retails quirky designer t-shirts, flip flops, bags, wallets, mobile phone cases, tablet & laptop sleeves, notebooks, mousepads and many more products to look out for.

The company also plans to venture into the personal care products space, which includes bath and skin care products, perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries, according to a board meeting resolution held last year.

Chumbak has its own design and marketing cells but sub-contracts the entire manufacturing of its products. It also sells accessories, home décor items and apparels through its exclusive stores and online marketplaces, including Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and Amazon.

As per company claims, it sells its merchandise at 18 exclusive stores across 11 cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, and Jaipur. It is also planning to double the offline exclusive store by the end of 2017.

From investments point of view, Chumbak has managed to bag a decent series of funding from Indian investors. In November last year, Chumbak raised Rs 3 crore from Bangalore-based investor Narayan Ramachandran. Prior to this, it had raised $2 million from Seedfund India and had raised Rs 30 crore of investment from venture capital fund Matrix Partners in 2014.