After pivot and leadership reshuffle, Kalaari and IDG partially exit from Zivame

Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures--the early backers of the lingerie startup Zivame have sold a part of their stakes to Technology-focused investment firm Zodius Capital.

One of the early adopters of omnichannel and marketplace model in lingerie startups in India, Zivame has been going through reshuffle and experiment in the past one year.

The financial details of the deal could not be ascertained, but Zodius now holds about 45 per cent stake Zivame. Besides, the Mumbai-based investment firm will control three of the six board seats in the company though it has not filled any of the two additional seats, reports ET.

In 2012, Kalaari and IDG had led Series A round in the company. The Bengaluru-based startup was valued at over $100 million when it raked in $50 million Series C round from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah and Zodius. However, the current valuation of the company is still unknown.

The development comes on the heels of company's elevation of new CEO Amisha Jain. Jain took over Shaleen Sinha who was controlling daily operations of the company after Richa Kar, founder and the then CEO of Zivame stepped down due to alleged internal conflicts with investors.

Launched in 2011, Zivame has now extended into multiple categories and channels with a presence in about 26 retail stores about 600 trade (multi-brand outlets).

Zivame has raised nearly $50 million in three rounds from the aforementioned investors. Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures and Ratan Tata are have also invested in the company.

Zivame, which has re-strategize its sales policy aims to open 100 stores by FY19 and has set aside an investment of Rs 30-40 crore to invest in it.

The last financial statements had been a major concern for Zivame and investors as it witnessed a sharp drop in sales and losses suffered by the company also increased in FY17 as compared to the previous fiscal.

Zivame recorded net sales of Rs 52.9 crore in FY17 compared to Rs 62.6 crore in FY16. The operating loss stood at Rs 56.5 crore in FY17 compared to Rs 53.3 crore in FY16.

However, with the new approach, the conversion rate at stores is two times higher than online sales with the average order value being at least 1.2 times higher. According to the company it is targeting to get to EBITDA breakeven within 12-18 months.

Besides Zivame, Buttercups, InnerSense, Clovia and Pretty Secrets are some of the other dedicated platforms in the online lingerie space.

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