Online fashion discovery platform, ShoutO raised funds worth $1.6 million in the pre-seed round led by Saama Capital. Investors like Whiteboard Capital, Amit Singhal ( the former head of search, Google), and Arjun Vaidya (founder, Dr Vaidyas), along with 25 direct-to-consumer (D2C) founder angels, also participated in the round.
“We are seeing social and creator-focused shopping startups gain a lot of traction in other markets, particularly the US. Shouto’s focus is to have an amalgamation of these approaches to build a fashion destination for young Indians.”
Ash Lilani, managing partner, Saama Capital
The funds will be deployed in product development, creator acquisition and engagement, and building a founding team of engineers and creator success managers. In addition, the company will collaborate with social media influencers on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest to curate and market the products through live or video interaction.
Creating a wholesome fashion experience
ShoutO, co-founded by former Myntra, AJIO, and Amazon executives Maruthy Ramgandhi, Abhishekk Handa, and Ayyappan Lakshmanan, aims to create a new online fashion shopping experience for Gen Z and young millennial consumers, providing them with a platform to discover and shop premium fashion brands as well as private-labels. The company is focused on developing new and distinct shopping features and creator-driven style curations that work well for modern fashion categories such as athleisure and street, as well as consumer preferences such as sustainable clothing and extended sizes such as plus petite, tall, and so on.
ShoutO fashion creators build Shopify-like stores, recommend products, and monetise based on traction, while the users browse and discover new styles suggested by their favourite fashion creators.
“We want to build ShoutO as a starting point for fashion discovery connecting these two opportunities and simplifying the shopping process. At ShoutO, we are building a community of ‘by-invite only’ creators we have handpicked for their genuineness and scale. With this community, creators can fulfil their passion of spreading their style and helping their fans and followers discover new fashion recommendations while creating a linear source of income on the ShoutO platform.”
Maruthy Ramgandhi, co-founder and CEO, ShoutO
He further adds, “the disruption or massive explosion of D2C brands is a lot of clutter for consumers.You have five large marketplaces; there are about 63-65 fashion brands, of which 40 are funded. Any fashion query or need you come across, you’ll have options. There is a lot of clutter that creates a need for a discovery platform. What are the categories they are looking for? These are primarily new-age categories – street, athleisure, plus-size, sustainable, conscious wear, and casuals to work. If you go to some of these marketplaces – Myntra, Ajio – they don’t take care of the new-age nuances.”
ShoutO has already grown to 50-plus creator stores with 3000+ fashion recommendations on its platform, catering to a wide range of styles from streetwear to ethnic, casuals to holiday wear, and much more. ShoutO’s creators have over half a million social media followers, mainly on Instagram. The platform has over 60,000 active users, a 51% monthly increase. ShoutO’s goal is to reach 500,000 monthly active users by December, after which the company will seek a larger seed round.