Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt picks up minority stake in personal styling portal StyleCracker

Mumbai-based StyleCracker, a fashion styling platform that connects women with designers for advice on fashion and styling trends has raised funds in its pre-Series-A round from Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt along with a consortium of investors.

Bhatt will hold a minority stake in the personal styling portal, who did not disclose the quantum of the investment.

Post this round, company founders Dhimaan Shah and Archana Walavalkar will jointly own 65% stake in Style-Cracker, while Bhatt and a clutch of other investors will hold the remaining stake.

“This has come from heart and not mind,” Bhatt told ET. “I am not actively looking for investments, but Archana has been my stylist for many years and when I came to know about StyleCracker, it seemed like a very logical move.”

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Founded in 2013 by Shah and Archana Walavalkar, StyleCracker claims to be India’s first online personal styling platform. The company allows users to get fashion related advice from designers by using intelligent user data to give personalised styling recommendations through live chats with a team of stylists. Users can buy the recommended 'looks' and brands on the site.

“We are like style advisors for our customers. We are already seeing 60-65% repeat business, and this fund-raising will help us to scale up,” said Shah, StyleCracker’s MD

Currently, the company caters only to female customers. “But very soon we will also launch similar products for male consumers. Everyone needs a stylist,” he added.

In 2015, the startup raised $1 million in its first round of funding from a bunch of high net-worth individuals.

Alia Bhatt is the latest Bollywood star who joined the startup league as an investor. In August Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan signed an endorsement deal with healthtech startup Cure.fit. In the same month, Vivek Oberoi invested in US-based SkyLimit Integrated Solution, a multi-discipline regenerative medicine company, and picked up a majority stake in the company.

StyleCracker: Website