Alia Bhatt Backs Fashion Tech Startup StyleCracker

Alia Bhatt, Bollywood’s rising star, invested an undisclosed amount in fashion portal StyleCracker. Along with other angel investors, Ali Bhatt picked up a minority stake in the company which provides users with celebrity stylist curated products.

Run by Mumbai based Kanvas Consultancy Pvt., Ltd., StyleCracker was launched in 2013 and offers customers personalized fashion boxes curated by celebrity stylists. The startup acts as a bridge between women shoppers with designers for advice on fashion and styling trends and provides users access to a catalogue of looks. StyleCracker was founded by former investment banker Dhimaan Shah along with the former fashion editor of Vogue, Archana Walavalker.

Speaking about investing in this pre Series A round of funding, Alia Bhatt said, “I am not actively looking for investments, but Archana has been my stylist for many years and when I came to know about StyleCracker, it seemed like a very logical move.” Dhimaan Shah and Archana Walavalker will jointly own 65% stake in the company post this round of investment.

The fresh funds, according to Managing Director Dhimaan Shah, will be used to scale up the business. “We are like style advisors for our customers. We are already seeing 60% to 65% repeat business, and this fund raising will help us to scale up,” he added. The company, which currently caters to only female customers will also launch similar products for male consumers soon.

Speaking about the company Archana Walavalkar, the Creative Director, said, “StyleCracker is a platform that understands the customer, creates their unique profile and then curates a wardrobe that suits any mood or occasion.” The company also recently launched personalized fashion boxes curated by celebrity stylists. Users fill an online form mentioning their preferences and a celebrity stylist will then call them to understand their requirements to curate a box accordingly. Along with fashion boxes, the company also offers workshops on corporate styling, induction and refresher programmes, gifting and soft skills training.

In their first round of funding in 2015, StyleCracker raised $ 1 million from a bunch of high net worth individuals. The company also claims to have shipped over 50,000 boxes across 35 cities in the last four months.