Kribha Handicrafts Targets Revenues of 100 Cr by 2012

Oct. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- Kribha Handicrafts today announced it has received early-stage funding from leading venture capital firms Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The investment will allow Kribha Handicrafts to expand its business multi-fold by investing in team, technology, back-end supply chain and sourcing of larger variety of products across India. Riding on a no-disclosure clause for three years which seems to be mandatory for most early stage investments; the firm has received a critical and timely fillip to its expansion program.

Kribha Handicrafts, apart from supplying to other customers, is also an exclusive supplier to Craftsvilla.com which has quickly become the largest online handcrafted and natural products ecommerce company in India. Featuring artisan-produced apparel, metalware, jewelry and home furnishings from around the world, Kribha Handicrafts offers high-quality products for every season, every person and every room in the home. Their product offering also includes largest selection of organic apparel, natural handmade soaps, religious products, natural & organic food and more.

Craftsvilla clocks about 10000 hits a day from across India, markets for major traction being Mumbai with a share of 20 % followed by Bangalore and Delhi


"Kribha Handicrafts has established a strong customer base in India for discerning customers, seeking unique and distinctive products which are not available in your neighborhood. This new funding will help us build further a strong team and backend technology," said Manoj Gupta, co-founder & CEO.

"We welcome the support of Lightspeed Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners as we take these next important steps in our corporate growth."

Kribha is dedicated to preserving the traditions of craftsmanship, creativity and culture in its product offerings. Every item is selected for its authentic expression of the artist's unique vision. Natural dyes, the very best raw materials (including organic wherever possible), minimal use of chemicals, and multiple quality checks all distinguish Kribha products from those of ordinary merchants. This is a critical industry for rural India comprising about 600,000 small villages. Even though rural India is almost wholly agriculture based, a small part of the rural Indian population is engaged with small industries like handlooms, handicrafts and other traditional produce. Today the organized sector of Indian industry is ready to absorb the products from these industries.

Gupta forecasts a year on year growth of 500%, key factors being demand outside India, which is growing as India itself gains more prominence in the global marketplace. Key international markets are USA, UK, Germany and Japan.

"Discerning shoppers continue to be an attractive market in the U.S. and elsewhere. In a world of mass-produced goods, there is a strong demand for high-quality, individually crafted products," said Sandeep Singhal of Nexus. Bejul Somaia of Lightspeed Advisory Services India Pvt Ltd added "Our investment in Kribha reflects our confidence in the team's vision of leveraging the Internet to open up new markets for the artisan community while providing consumers with an experience to discover unique products."

Kribha practices best in class IT implementations and is India's first online wholeseller touse SAP hosted on cloud. "This move will enable us to provide state of the art automation, completetransparency and great experience right from the web store to warehouse to the customer", said Bhavik Jhaveri, co-founder and CTO.


About Kribha Handicrafts:

Kribha Handicrafts is one of the largest wholeseller for unique handmade luxuries. Focused on the traditions that nourish mind, body and soul, Kribha's products takes shoppers to a new world in the past, where handcrafted and greencrafted products were a way of life-not just a fashion statement. Featuring products from around the world, Kribha sells apparel, bags, jewelry, home furnishings, health & beauty, accessories, designer products and much more.Kribha Handicrafts, is funded by global investors Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.