Mumbai: Macmerise Celfie Design Pvt Ltd has raised $1 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures, one of India’s leading angel investment platforms. Other investors who participated in the round include Amitabh Bachchan, Tarun Katial, Ajmera Group, NAFA Capital amongst others. Funds raised will be utilized towards improving tech infrastructure, onboarding more brands/celebrities to launch their merchandise, reaching a wider audience, and developing new innovative products.
Macmerise is a one-stop-shop for themed merchandise for celebs/influencers/brands offering 50+ products across categories such as consumer electronics, fashion & apparel, mobile accessories, games and stationery, home & kitchen, and many more. Currently, the company has more than 24 licenses and tie-ups with brands like Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, Jim Beam to name a few to sell themed merchandise on their platform.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Creative and expressive merchandise is fast emerging as a preferred category for GenZ and millennials who are looking for brands that speak their lingo. Within e-comm, we see the creative fashion and accessories space becoming bigger and by the very nature of their business, it will drive higher customer loyalty. MCD as a company aims to tell your story through your accessories and as investors, we find this proposition promising in terms of growth and scale.”
The founders Sahil Shah and Rahul Satia have collectively devoted 12+ years to the designer merchandise selling space alone and now want to scale in the celebrity merchandise arena. The company is leveraging the already established supply chain across India, China, and the UAE along with existing celebrity partnerships and collaborations.
Tarun Katial, industry veteran and Investor in media, education, and technology start-ups shared, “Brands – both global and local – are now focused on customizable options that resonate deeply with today’s evolved audience. Merchandising has grown to fit into that niche! As a franchisee to some of the most renowned brands globally, Macmerise has made deep inroads into this segment. I am excited to invest in a team, passionately helmed by Sahil and Rahul, that is eager to shape the future of bespoke audience engagement for brands.”
Macmerise is disrupting the existing merchandise selling space with its tech-forward platform for celebrities/influencers, brands, and content creators (located in India and across the world), enabling them to co-create and launch their merchandise and ability to customize products including themed merchandise across multiple product categories and manage end to end fulfillment of these products; all under one roof. Apart from their website, they sell through 35+ stores (Hamleys, Reliance Digital, Cred, ToysRUS, Planet Superheroes, Entertainment Store) and online marketplaces such as ShopDisney, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra.
MCDs business model is one of the key differentiating factors. While the majority of their competitors operate in an inventory heavy model, MCD has opted for no inventory, just in time model. This model helps them standardize their operations and costs, hence enables them to maintain a certain standard of quality and scale faster. MCD has also been able to differentiate itself with the number of brands and celebrities onboard, which helps them to create a community around celebs, brands, and their followers.
Sahil Shah, Founder and CEO, MCD, says, “We truly believe the world of merchandising is changing and at Macmerise we have created our products, tech and business model to lead this change from the front. Our conquest is to simplify the customer journey in their search of buying their favorite designer merch. We aim to join hands with leading celebrities/creators of this generation to build their authentic range of designer products and manage the complete supply chain cycle of these brands. IPV is the perfect strategic partner and mentor in our entrepreneurship journey. Having such credible names on board backing us, we are determined to scale MCD to greater heights as envisioned”.
