Fashion marketplace Elanic raises funds from Japan's Digital Garage

Bengaluru-based Elanic, an online platform that allows users to sell their used clothes online has secured an investment from Tokyo-based incubator and venture capital investor Digital Garage.

The VC firm which is an early investor in Twitter didn't disclose the size of the deal, but the funding is from DG Incubation, the investment subsidiary of Digital Garage which focuses on investments in Japan and Asia.

"Basically, we invest $500,000 to $5 million in early-stage companies and generally do not participate as lead investors," said Masayuki Sarukawa, director, DG Incubation.

Elanic, founded by Palkush Rai Chawla, Aditi Rohan, and Abhilash Narhari, is a C2C marketplace that helps the user sell or buy pre-owned clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories. The startup claims to simplify and standardize transactions in India’s less-than-developed used fashion marketplace.

Its mobile app allows users to upload pictures of an item for sale. Then, once sold, it is picked up by Elanic and the level of damage, size, and brand authenticity is inspected before dispatching the product to the buyer.

The company had raised an undisclosed amount in seed capital from venture capital firm Rebright Partners, TracxnLabs and angel investor Aneesh Reddy in 2015.

In July this year, the fashion portal acqui-hired re-commerce platform SecondCry, an online marketplace for pre-owned toys and apparel for children.

The company competes with other startups in the pre-owned fashion category including Zapyle, CoutLoot, Envoged.in, StylFlip and Etashee which cater to growing middle-class aspiration to own luxury brands. Digital Garage is actively scouting for more deals in the India market.

The Japanese company, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is upbeat on investments in early-stage startups and had teamed up with Japan and Singapore-based BEENEXT to make co-investments in Indian startups.

Both have led a series-B round investment of Rs 200 crores in the online marketplace for used automobiles and auto services Droom.

Digital Garage started investing in the Indian market about two years ago and has since invested in 11 Indian startups across multiple sectors.

Elanic: Website