CHK, Shoppin, and Gallabox Secure Early-Stage Funding to Fuel Growth Below are the Indian startups that have disclosed their recent investment rounds.
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D2C Footwear Startup CHK Raises USD 2.5 Mn Funding Led by Accel
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) footwear startup CHK has successfully raised a seed funding round led by global venture capital firm Accel, bringing its total funding to USD 2.5 million. This follows a previous pre-seed investment from BlueStone Jewellery and Lifestyle Limited.
The freshly raised capital will help accelerate production and bolster CHK's go-to-market strategy ahead of its public launch in April 2025.
CHK, co-founded in October 2024 by Sankar Bora (formerly of DealShare), Deepan Babu, Bharat Mahajan, and Deepak Patil, specialises in designing and manufacturing innovative footwear for India's fashion-conscious youth.
With its "concept to creation" model, CHK controls the entire production process, focusing on premium and mass-premium segments. The brand is poised to cater to millennials and Gen-Z professionals who seek trendy, high-quality lifestyle footwear.
CHK operates a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, which houses a state-of-the-art design and R&D unit. The company plans to launch sales through its D2C website before expanding into offline retail. With 25 employees currently, CHK plans to grow its workforce to 100 by April.
Fashion Search Engine Shoppin Secures USD 1 Mn from InfoEdge Ventures
Fashion search engine platform Shoppin has raised USD 1 million in a funding round led by InfoEdge Ventures. The company, founded by Shlok Bhartiya, aims to revolutionise fashion discovery by bridging the gap between social media inspiration and e-commerce. Shoppin allows users to search for apparel through prompts, vibes, product descriptions, and images, enhancing the online shopping experience.
The newly acquired funds will be used to hire AI engineers, improve proprietary technology, and drive growth. A significant portion will go toward developing and scaling advanced AI models, including custom-built small language models (SLMs) designed for fashion.
Shoppin claims to have already built a loyal following, with over 35,000 Instagram followers and 20,000 people on its waitlist, all achieved with zero marketing spend.
"For Gen-Zs, over 75% of fashion inspiration discovery happens on Instagram and Pinterest. We started shoppin' seven months ago with the idea of bridging the gap between inspiration discovery on social platforms and e-commerce discovery on marketplaces and D2C brand websites. Our mission at shoppin' is to make fashion discovery as seamless and easy as clicking an image. With Info Edge Ventures' support, we're committed to innovating further, pushing the boundaries of AI, to help every shopper find what they love effortlessly," said Shlok Bhartiya, Founder and CEO of Shoppin.
With a mission to make fashion discovery as seamless as clicking an image, Shoppin is on track to launch its beta search engine in February 2025, aiming to offer an intuitive and personalised shopping experience for Gen-Z users.
Gallabox Secures USD 3.5 Mn Funding Led by FUSE
Gallabox, a Chennai/US-based conversational commerce platform, has raised USD 3.5 million in a seed funding round led by FUSE, with participation from Prime Venture Partners and Neon Fund.
This brings the total funding raised since its 2021 inception to USD 5 million, following a USD 1.2 million round in November 2022. The platform helps small and medium businesses (SMBs) enhance sales and marketing through WhatsApp, enabling businesses to deploy AI-driven agents for marketing and customer service.
Gallabox's platform, used by over 10,000 businesses across 45 countries, empowers SMBs to automate customer interactions, from lead qualification to appointment scheduling, all within minutes and without technical expertise. The company focuses on sectors like education, healthcare, wellness, real estate, and travel, making AI-powered automation accessible to businesses of all sizes.
With this funding, Gallabox plans to expand its capabilities and geographic footprint, including further growth in the Middle East, Latin America, and the US. The company aims to evolve beyond WhatsApp automation, developing advanced AI tools for sales and marketing across multiple messaging channels. As part of its vision, Gallabox is building AI agents capable of handling complex tasks with natural language instructions, helping SMBs thrive in the rapidly growing B2C messaging landscape.
