Venture capital firms do a fit check with fashion startups

Fast fashion is projected to account for over a quarter of India’s retail apparel market by FY31

- Mansi Verma [e-mail]

Venture capital investors backed 28 fashion and apparel deals worth $213 million in 2025.

(BLOOMBERG)

The fast fashion boom is decisively back on India's startup map.

The segment is projected to account for more than a quarter of India’s retail apparel market by FY31, according to Redseer last year. Investors are also bullish about a new wave of apparel brands. Venture capital investors backed 28 fashion and apparel deals worth $213 million in 2025, compared with 21 deals worth $172 million in 2024, according to Venture Intelligence data.

Since January, over four new apparel brands, like Aramya’s funding by Z47 and Accel India, CAVA Athleisure’s investment by Verlinvest, Sharp Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital, and Krvvy’s recent raise from All In Capital, have already raised $29 million in funding.

“There is certainly more interest in apparel products compared to what it used to be in the past,” said Dipanjan Basu, co-founder and partner, Fireside Ventures, which has invested in new-age apparel brands like NewMe, Terractive and adjacent categories like shapewear UnderNeat. “As GDP (gross domestic product) per capita increases, discretionary income beyond food and housing goes to areas like fashion and beauty.”