Voonik Startup Story – One Stop for All Your Fashion Needs

By Digital Yug Mar 14 2022 6:41PM
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Voonik is now a customized clothing shopping app for women, allowing them to shop for clothing from various brands and retailers based on their body type, lifestyle, and budget. Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan founded Voonik in 2013. Its headquarters is in Bangalore, India.

Voonik Startup Story – Personal Shopping Website for Women

Earlier people used to go shopping with their pals only to assist with the selecting process. To get a personalized style statement, people were paying a lot of money to stylists and designers about the same period. Voonik got founded in 2013 to shift this paradigm online and optimize the entire process to be smooth and convenient. It initially got designed for men and women, but they eventually decided to specialize in women's apparel. Learn about Voonik's company profile, founders, Funding, competitors, business model, growth, and revenue, among other things.

Voonik Startup - Company Highlights

  • Startup Name – Voonik
  • Founded - 2013
  • Founders - Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan
  • Sector - eCommerce
  • Headquarter - Bangalore
  • Total Funding - $34.5 Million
  • Net Profit - Rs 28.9 crore (FY20)
  • Revenue/Turnover - Rs 44.76 crore (FY20)
  • Expenses - Rs 15.99 crore (FY20)
  • Website – www.voonik.com

Voonik Startup – Customized Clothing for Everyone

Voonik initially got designed for both men and women, but they eventually decided to specialize in women's apparel. As a result, Voonik is now a customized clothing shopping app for women, allowing them to shop for clothing from various brands and retailers based on their body type, lifestyle, and budget.

Voonik allows women customers to purchase as they would on any other e-commerce site, or they may provide information such as their body type, skin tone, height, and personal style to have the app recommend gowns for them.

Voonik Founders - Sujayath Ali & Navaneetha Krishnan

  • Sujayath Ali Sujayath - Sujayth holds a Bachelor's Degree in CSE from MepcoSchlenk Engineering College and an MBA in Technology and Finance from the ISB, Hyderabad. Before joining Voonik, he worked at Visa as VP and head of the Visa Checkout merchant program. He has also spent seven years in the United States working for Amazon as a senior product manager.
  • Krishnan Navaneetha - He worked for Freshdesk as a Principal Developer, Narus Networks as a Tech-Lead, and Aryaka Networks as a Technical Architect before co-founding Voonik. Voonik began with a 12-person team and has since grown to over 150 workers.

Voonik Startup - Logo, and Tagline

  • Tagline - Voonik's tagline is "Everyday Fashion," The company lives up to its name by providing a wide selection of choices in every fashion category for the Indian urban consumer.
  • Logo – The company's logo is in simple black colour.

Voonik Startup - Investors and Funding

To date, Voonik raised $34.5 million in total funding.

DateRoundAmountInvestors
February 2014Seed$500kSeedFund
June 2015Series A$5 Million (~Rs. 32 crores)Sequoia Capital, SeedFund
June 2016Series B$20 MillionSequoia Capital India
July 2016Debt$3 MillionInnoVen Capital
February 2017Series C$6 MillionRB Investments Pte. Ltd.

Voonik Startup - Revenue Model & Business Model

  • Business Model : Voonik is essentially a marketplace where retailers may register and show off their wares. Voonik combines several internet retailers into a single shopping cart. As a result, it features product lines from retailers like Jabong, Snapdeal, Fashionara, Fashionandyou, Yepme, Zovi, and others.
  • Revenue Model : Voonik's income plan got based on charging a 15% commission to the brand or seller on every sale. A third-party logistics partner handles the deliveries.

Voonik - Startup Challenges

Some of the challenges are as follows:

  • Shipping Is Expensive - The most expensive shipping was Voonik's most challenging difficulty in the early days. It was losing money on every shipment in particular. As a result, the company chose to engage in initiatives to watch shipping in several categories.
  • Marketing - Voonik's second-largest expense driver was marketing. It appears that it stopped focusing on traditional channels like Facebook and Google to avoid recurring overheads. Instead, it sought out new marketing avenues to make money quickly. Referral schemes were one of these ideas, which allowed Voonik to profit from the very first transaction.
  • Competitors – Voonik has at least strong competitors in the market. However, it is challenging for them to overshadow companies already performing well and have millions of customer base.

Voonik Startup - Acquisitions and Mergers

  • TrialKart : TrialKart was acquired by Voonik in 2015. TrialKart is a smartphone platform that gives consumers a virtual dressing room experience.
  • Getsty : Getsty, a tailored shopping portal for males, was acquired by Voonik in 2016.
  • Vilara : With the introduction of Vilara in June 2016, Voonik entered the premium e-commerce category.
  • Dekkoh : Voonik purchased Dekkoh in 2016, a personalization and style app. It has also acquired three businesses, Zohraa, Picksilk.com, and style, to help it further develop the platform and personalize it by hiring more personal stylists and linking them with users via a chat-based app.
  • ShopUp : According to sources, Vooniks B2B Company combined with Bangladesh-based firm ShopUp in February 2020. It is a web-based tool that assists businesses in going online. It meets the needs of e-commerce, stores, logistics, sourcing, marketing, and working capital.
  • Schoolay : Vooniks' B2C Company merged with Schoolay in 2020. It is a kid sportswear startup.

Voonik Startup - Revenue and Growth Numbers

  • Voonik reported a 264% increase in net profits from Rs 17.63 crore in FY19 to Rs 28.7 crore in FY20 (FY20)
  • Voonik's revenue in FY20 was Rs 44.76 crore, up from Rs 21.45 crore in FY19.
  • In the first month, Voonik received over 10,000 downloads and a 4.7 average rating.
  • Voonik now has over 20 million registered users.
  • A total of 17 million applications have got downloaded.
  • Every month, about 2 million unique visitors visit the site.
  • More than 15 lakh goods from 22,000 merchants are displayed.
  • Daily, 20,000 orders are processed.
  • The Google Play Store currently has a rating of 4.1.

Voonik Startup – Competitors

The online fashion industry is as congested as it gets. And now, thanks to Instagram's popularity, it's much easier for people to sell fashion goods online. Given this, a lot is going on in the world of online fashion. Style cracker, for example, provides stylists to each of its customers to create a package of accessories that match the dress. Some of the competitors of Voonik are as follows:

  • LimeRoad
  • Jaypore
  • Myntra
  • Jabong
  • Adoro Marketplace
  • ShopClues
  • Yepme

Voonik Startup - Future Plans

Voonik has excellent intentions to add retail stores and chat-based services to its platform. Customers can currently only receive recommendations through the app, and they are unable to communicate with stylists. As a result, their top aim, in the long run, is to take Voonik's personalization to the next level. Voonik is also planning to increase its customer base.

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