Fast fashion brand Newme raises $5 million in funding round led by Fireside

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Newme, on Wednesday told ET that it has raised $5.4 million (Rs 45 crore) in a seed funding round led by Fireside Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based startup, which currently sells its own brand of clothing across both online and offline outlets was founded in 2022. It had in the past raised an undisclosed round of funding from investors such as Aum Ventures, 2am VC and All In Capital, all of whom have participated in the current round.

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“With this new round of capital, we are going to enhance our supply chain and scale-up the manufacturing in the country, go from two to 20 cities in our offline play with 1.5 lakh square feet of space, and build a stronger technology team over the course of the coming 12 months,” founder and CEO Sumit Jasoria told ET.

Currently, about 35% of the brand’s apparel base is manufactured in Mumbai and the rest in China. Jasoria said the brand is working on bringing the local base up to 50% in the near term.

Catering to Gen Z – those born between mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s – Newme has serviced over 3.5 lakh customers across its website and stores till date. The brand is able to create 500 designs per week, changing a curated collection, largely using technology that is guided by four designers.

Newme opened its first two stores in Bengaluru – in Forum South Mall in July 2023 and Orion Mall Rajajinagar in October 2023. The third was opened in December 2023 in Infiniti Mall Malad in Mumbai.