Zyod raises $3.5 million in funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners

Zyod, a business-to-business fashion ecommerce marketplace for apparel sourcing and manufacturing, said it has raised $3.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.The seed round also saw participation from FJ Labs, Panthera Peak Capital, as well as select angels such as Abhishek Goyal (founder, Tracxn), Abhinav Sinha (global COO, Oyo), Gaurav Hinduja (COO, Gokaldas Exports), Ravi Khandelwal (founder, Yufta) and others.

Zyod plans to use the funds to improve technology and hire more people. From adding more manufacturers and suppliers to introducing new features, the company will continue to focus on building a larger network of MSMEs in the apparel sourcing and manufacturing segment.

The startups said it is actively hiring across functions such as product, tech, marketing, and operations. It has till date onboarded 30 suppliers in India and 130 brands across the world. Zyod focusses on brands that are in the fast fashion space, giving them finished products in 21 days, based on their requirements, cofounder Ankit Jaipuria told ET. These fast fashion brands sell a much wider collection than the typical fashion brand, but would not want to hold 1,000 units — large inventory — of a particular design. The startup offers brand orders as low as 50 units.

“While fashion is rapidly transforming globally, the incumbent supply chain has not kept pace with how rapidly consumers have evolved and it needs a complete reimagination of manufacturing itself, to build for the future,” said Jaipuria. “At Zyod, we are making fast fashion accessible to every brand/retailer using our unique, agile supply chain. Brands are increasingly relying on us to be the one-stop shop to launch new styles every week, without the worry of inventory, making us their partner from design to delivery”.

Online fast fashion has been pioneered by China’s Shein. Recently, in India, as well, online fast fashion startups such as Virgio, founded by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, have garnered significant investor interest. ET reported on December 16 that Virgio has been able to raise $35 million, at a valuation of close to $160 million, just months after starting business.

Zyod, which was founded in January 2023, plans to use the funds to also increase its supplier count by 20 times in the near future.

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