Symphony Asia, Lightbox lead $12.5 mn round in jewellery start-up Melorra

The firm has been bringing in global fashion trends into lightweight gold jewellery and launching 75 designs every week with 80% of collection below Rs 35,000

Jewellery brand Melorra has raised $12.5 million in a funding round led by Symphony Asia, Lightbox Ventures and Alteria Capital. Others who participated in the round included existing and new family offices of Burman, Jeejeebhoy.

The Bengaluru-based start-up will be utilising the funds for technological innovations, product innovations and brand marketing to grow awareness about the brand.

“Prior to the pandemic we were growing 500 per cent year on year, and have launched over 10,000 new designs. After the pandemic hit, even we were impacted just like all other businesses. However, we managed to recover very well primarily because we are an online brand,” said Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO, Melorra.

Taking a cue from clothing brand Zara, the company has been bringing in global fashion trends into lightweight gold jewellery and launching 75 new designs every week with about 80 per cent of the collection below Rs 35,000. Because of these factors Melorra is witnessing a four times increase in both organic and direct traffic compared to last Diwali and the average selling price of products has grown by 40 per cent compared to pre-Covid levels. 

“In March when the pandemic hit, like so many other businesses around the world, Melorra saw sales volumes drop drastically, the future of the jewellery market questioned, and online search traffic heavily decreased. But over the past fast months, they have turned the business on its head, in what’s been nothing short of a masterclass,” said Siddharth Talwar, co-founder of Lightbox Ventures.

“All designs are unique and we operate a no-inventory model manufacturing only once we receive customer orders. All this requires investment and we will continue to focus on building the brand,” said Yeramilli.