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Melorra sells western-influenced fine jewellery, designed in-house by talented Indian designers from around the world

Bangalore-based online fashion jewellery brand Melorra has bagged US$5 million in seed funding from Lightbox Ventures, even before the product hit the market.

This is arguably one of the largest seed funding rounds made by any VC firms in India. Lightbox. started in 2014, normally invests in growth-stage startups.

Melorra, owned and operated by Bangalore-based August Jewellery, was founded in 2015 by former Tanishq and Dell senior executive Saroja Yeramilli. It is an online platform that sells affordable, western-influenced, fine jewellery for every occasion. Each piece is designed in-house by talented Indian designers from around the world.

The company, which has been in stealth mode for the past seven months, launched its mobile app on iOS only yesterday. The Android version will hit the market soon.

“All our designs are 100 per cent exclusive to us — you will not find them anywhere else. Our jewellery is inspired by global fashion trends and like fashion, our jewellery designs are rapidly changing and innovating. Our global trend spotters collaborate with our designers to provide style guidance,” said Yeramilli.

Also Read: Fashion jewellery e-tailer Voylla nets US$15M from Peepul Capital

“Unlike all the industry ads splashed over billboards and magazines, none of our jewellery is over-the–top. Our quality team makes every effort to ensure you get a flawless jewellery piece of international quality certified by the best agencies,” she added.

The Melorra founder also claimed that the app provides rich content on the latest global fashion trends and a good customer shopping experience with simple navigation.

In her view, while most industries have taken note of the Indian woman’s changing needs and wants, the jewellery industry has not changed much.

“Women have access to the latest trends in clothes, bags, shoes or any other form of accessory. These days, with the advent of global brands in India, women have access to international styles at the same time as London, New York or Paris. But in India or anywhere in the world, the jewellery industry lags the fashion industry by at least a couple of years if not more. This is a global truth. It’s time the jewellery industry changed,” she said.

Other key players operating in the online fashion segment are Ratan Tata-backed Bluestone, Peepul Capital-funded Voylla, and Tiger Global-backed CaratLane.com.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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