Ratan Tata-backed Bluestone raises Rs 200 cr in fresh funding

Ratan Tata-backed BlueStone.com today said it has raised Rs 200 crore in a fresh round of funding, led by IIFL and Accel.

Kalaari Capital, RB Investments and IvyCap Ventures also participated in this round. With the latest round, BlueStone has raised USD 60 million (over Rs 400 crore) so far.

"The Rs 200 crore fund will enable the company to grow the category and strengthen its leadership position," BlueStone said.

It has planned major investments in expanding design and manufacturing capacity as well as marketing initiatives to grow the online jewellery segment, said the Bengaluru-based firm, which had earlier raised funds from Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, IvyCap Ventures and Saama Capital.

Apart from Tata, Portea CEO Meena Ganesh has also invested in the company.

"In a short span of five years, we have captured majority market share. We are now targeting a four-fold increase in revenues to touch Rs 1,000 crore by 2018 and we want to achieve this goal in a profitable and sustainable manner," BlueStone.com founder and CEO Gaurav Singh Kushwaha said.

It offers over 5,000 jewellery designs and plans to scale to 30,000 designs in the next three years.

Globally, the online jewellery segment is witnessing exponential growth and is expected to capture 10 per cent of total jewellery sales by 2020.

The Indian precious jewellery market, which is currently valued at USD 60 billion, is projected to cross the USD 110 billion mark in the next five years with online contribution estimated to be in the USD 2-3 billion range.

Currently, the online jewellery segment in India contributes less than 0.5 percent but it is growing at 5 times year-on-year as compared to traditional jewellery players.