Priyanka Gill quits Kalaari for a new experiment: a lab-grown diamond brand
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Priyanka Gill, a former partner at Kalaari Capital and co-founder of the Good Glamm Group, is starting her own venture after stepping down from the Bengaluru-based venture capital fund. Gill is launching Coluxe, a lab-grown diamond (LGD) brand, as demand for affordable synthetic diamonds rises.
This follows the recent entry of several homegrown lab-grown diamond brands in the market. Online sales are set to go live in May, followed by a physical store. Coluxe will sell solitaire rings, pendants, earrings, tennis bracelets and necklaces, and signature pieces.
Lab-grown diamonds have gained in global popularity due to their price and quality advantages over natural diamonds. In 2022, India’s lab-grown diamond jewellery market was valued at $264.5 million, as per management consultants Technopak. By the end of the next decade, lab-grown diamond jewellery sales are expected to rise at a 14.8% CAGR, increasing the market size from $299.9 million in 2023 to $1.1 billion by 2033.
A supply glut in the lab-grown diamond market has, however, led to price corrections. Gill said the emergence of mass-scale adoption of new consumer behaviour, in this case the shift from natural to lab-grown diamonds, does not happen often. “It is happening in the fine jewellery sector," she said.
Gill, however, added that most existing brands are selling LGDs as a cheaper alternative to mined diamonds as opposed to using design and variety as a differentiator. “The most striking fact for me is that only 6% of all gold jewellery buyers in India own diamonds. The headroom to grow is huge," she said.
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