New-age jewellery retailer BlueStone, backed by the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, is in advanced talks to raise funding from Singapore state investment firm Temasek, DealStreetAsia has learnt.
“Conversations have reached the last lap. If they go through, the deal could be closed in a few weeks’ time,” said a source on the condition of anonymity.
Established in 2011 in Bengaluru, BlueStone manufactures and retails high-value jewellery such as gold, diamonds and pearls. It sells rings, pendants, chains, and earrings through its retail outlets and website to customers across the country.
While BlueStone’s initial backers were Accel Partners and Saama Capital who came on board in its founding year, it later roped in other investors such as IvyCap Ventures, IIFL Holdings, Kalaari Capital, RB Investments, Dragoneer Investment Group and Iron Pillar in 2015 and 2016.
Last year, in March, BlueStone raked in as much as $30 million (Rs 230 crore) from Sunil Kant Munjal-led Hero Enterprises at a valuation of $410 million. At that time, news was also rife about the company looking at an IPO route to raise over Rs1,500 crore.
“BlueStone had plans to hit the capital market in 2022. But because of market uncertainty, plans were shelved. It may try again this year, depending on sentiments,” said another source privy to the company’s plans.
Separate emails sent to Temasek and BlueStone seeking an update on funding talks did not elicit any response.
Currently, BlueStone is aggressively looking to step up its manufacturing capabilities and increase the number of retail outlets as it carves out massive expansion plans. While it had over 70 retail stores across India in 2022, the target is to ramp up the number to 300 by 2024. The company now houses over 8,000 unique designs.
The jewellery market in India is witnessing significant growth post-COVID. While traditional players still dominate, the sector has seen a host of new-age players mushrooming such as Melorra, GIVA, and the Tata Group-owned CaratLane — companies that BlueStone counts as its competition.
Melorra raised $16 million in a Series D funding round from Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I, SRF Family Office, N+1, and existing investors in May last year.
CaratLane was backed by Tiger Global in its early days. The New York-based investor exited when Titan, a Tata Group-owned company, acquired a majority stake in it in 2016.
According to a recent report in Entrackr, BlueStone recorded gross revenue of over Rs 460 crore in 2021-22 fiscal, registering an 88.2% jump from the previous financial year.
Temasek has been an active investor in Indian startups including in unicorns such as Molbio Diagnostics, FirstCry, and Bill Desk. It is also an investor in prominent startups such as the short video-sharing platform ShareChat.
The Singapore state investor had backed healthcare platform HealthKart, owned by Tata 1mg, in an over $65 million Series H funding round in November last year.
The Economic Times reported last week that Temasek is in advanced talks to buy a minority stake in Cloudnine Hospitals, valuing the Indian hospital chain at 30 billion rupees ($362.7 million).
In January, SarvaGram Solutions, a rural household-focused lending and distribution platform announced that it has raised $35 million in a Series C round from Temasek, Elevar Equity, Elevation Capital, and TVS Capital Funds.