Zomato, Myntra co-founders raise $26 million for new fashion venture Lyskraft

Lyskraft, the retail fashion omnichannel startup founded by Mukesh Bansal and Mohit Gupta, has raised $26 million in a round led by Peak XV Partners with participation from Prosus, Sofina and the partners of DST Global. MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra & Rajesh Magow, Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal and several other industry leaders also participated in the round.

Moneycontrol was first to report about Bansal and Gupta eyeing as much as $50 million for their fashion startup in August 2023. The new venture that Bansal is working on, along with Mohit Gupta, will be in the premium fashion space aimed at Gen Z, an increasingly attractive segment for e-commerce players.

Gupta and Bansal have, over the past decade and a half, built multiple high-profile consumer platforms like Myntra, Zomato, MakeMyTrip and Cult.fit.

“The future of retail is omnichannel, especially for categories like premium fashion where touch, feel and experience of the actual product are key to consumer choice in the category. India’s deep roots in fabrics, craft, creative heritage and manufacturing strength also put us at a unique position to play a large role at the global stage.” Mohit said.

Lyskraft will be headquartered at Gurugram and will be led by Gupta as the co-founder and CEO, Moneycontrol reported in August 2023. Bansal, on the other hand, will be a co-founder and strategic advisor to the business.

"At its core, venture investing is about partnering with India’s best entrepreneurs to build generational companies. We are excited to work with Mohit, who has seen two idea-to-IPO journeys - MakeMyTrip and Zomato, on the vision to build Lyskraft as a category-defining fashion & lifestyle company,” Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director at Peak XV said.

The startup has been building in stealth mode for the past few months and it recently launched a premium pop up store at Ambience Mall Gurugram and an online platform as a market testing initiative. It showcases 15+ leading handpicked women’s fashion brands / designers at a time with new designers being added every week. Customers will also be able to shop these brands through its website.