Prosus Ventures May Join Ex-Myntra CEO’s New Fashion Startup Funding Round

Prosus Ventures, the venture investment arm of Prosus (formerly Naspers) is in advanced stages of talks to join former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram’s new venture funding round, according to people briefed on the matter .

Nagaram’s new venture — a fast fashion platform for Gen Z — is likely to be valued at $150-160 million post-investment, these people said. Nagaram, who left Flipkart-owned Myntra last December as its chief executive, is expected to launch the venture later this month and has named it Virgio — housed under Ameyam Enterprises.

Currently, the app is in beta testing with users being placed on a waiting list before an official launch. ET reported in January that Alpha Wave (formerly Falcon Edge) and Accelhad closed their $25-30 million round at a $100 million valuation. Prosus Ventures’ investment is also part of the Series A funding, but the round is structured in multiple tranches and is that Prosus is coming at a higher valuation than previous investors.

“The first round is structured in multiple tranches such as series A1, A2 and so on. Prosus Ventures is in the final stages of signing the deal. While the platform will be launched soon, it has received a valuation of over $150 million with the Prosus round,” said one of the people briefed on the matter. With Prosus Ventures entering Virgio, the round size could increase by around 10 million dollars.

This comes at a time when there is a noticeable slowdown in the conclusion of deals with attractive terms at all stages. Once officially announced, it will be one of the largest rounds of institutional funding for a new venture.

Nagaram declined to comment. A spokesperson for Prosus Ventures said it does not comment on market rumors and speculation.

Mukesh Bansal, founder of Cultfit and president at Tata Digital is also an investor in the firm, as reported by ET earlier.

Nagaram’s Virgio is being seen as the ‘Shein of India’ by people who have reviewed its plans and are aware of the goings-on at the firm. Virgo is expected to focus on adapting consumer needs for fashion products. It will rely on the consumer-to-production model. “The Virgio app represents the dawn of a new brand of social commerce,” according to the description on its website.

“It’s similar to Shia from India with a lot of focus on technology. They are trying to have a fast fashion production based on demand. “Trends are changing rapidly and the idea is to address this demand to Gen Z and the younger age consumers – who are also really young,” said one of the people mentioned above.

Shein had become popular in India but had to shut down its operations here last year after a government ban as part of a wider crackdown on Chinese apps.

Prior to starting Virgio, Nagaram worked at Flipkart for nearly seven years before moving to Myntra in 2019. He rose to the CEO post at the fashion retailer after its previous chief executive Anath Narayanan left following Flipkart’s acquisition by Walmart in 2018.

Stay on top of the technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-have tech news delivered straight to your inbox.