Shraddha Kapoor’s jewellery brand Palmonas is in discussions to raise Rs 200-250 crore from mid-market private equity firm Xponentia Capital, two people aware of the development said.
The round is expected to value Palmonas around Rs 1,600-1,800 crore, up by more than three times from the last round, one of the persons said. The company had raised Rs 55 crore from Vertex Ventures earlier this year at a valuation of Rs 500-550 crore.
Palmonas’s funding comes amid growing investor interest in the jewellery space. The Pune-based startup is currently tracking an annualised revenue run rate of Rs 300 crore, one of the persons said.
“Smaller brands, especially in the lab-grown diamonds and fashion jewellery space, are raising capital so they can start investing in building up inventory and strengthen their offerings for the Valentine’s Day week in February… which is a strong demand season for them,” an investor said.
Palmonas was founded in 2022 by husband-wife duo Amol Patwari and Pallavi Mohadikar, with actress Shraddha Kapoor joining as a cofounder later. Mohadikar, who is Palmonas’s CEO, did not respond to ET’s queries. Xponentia also did not respond to queries.
At the time of its last fundraise, Palmonas had said that the proceeds will be used to expand its demi-fine jewellery collection, and open 100 new stores in the next 12 months. The brand specialises in demi-fine jewellery crafted from surgical stainless steel and sterling silver with 18K gold vermeil finish, spanning necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, and mangalsutras.
Apart from Palmonas, a flurry of jewellery brands have raised venture capital this year. This includesRs 48 crore raised by lab-grown diamond brand Lucira, led by Blume Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital. Lucira was founded by Rupesh Jain, who had earlier started lifestyle jewellery brand Candere — now owned by Kalyan Jewellers. ET had reported in September that private equity firm Warburg Pincus was looking to pick a stake in Candere.
In October, gold-plated silver jewellery brand Goyaz raised Rs 130 crore in its maiden institutional funding round from Norwest Venture Partners.
Giva, which specialises in silver jewellery and recently entered lab-grown diamonds, raised Rs 530 crore in June from investors led by private equity fund Creaegis. In April, lab-grown diamond jewellery firm Jewelbox raised $3.2 million from investors led by V3 Ventures, while in March, Firefly Diamonds raised $3 million from WestBridge Capital.
Omnichannel jewellery retailerBlueStone listed on the exchanges earlier this year following a Rs 1,540-crore initial public offering.
