The Silver Lining The primary driving force behind the genesis of GIVA, a silver jewelry brand, was to build a trusted platform that would disrupt the jewelry market

All that glitters is not gold, but can surely be a piece of fine jewelry. India is one of the fifth largest jewelry markets in the world, yet the space is inaccessible to many, owing to the high price range.

Affordability has always put consumers in a dilemma. "There was a limited option for affordable fine jewelry between INR 500-15,000. GIVA is trying to bridge this gap through its collection of premium jewelry crafted out of sterling silver," said Ishendra Agarwal, founder and CEO, GIVA.

The primary driving force behind the genesis of GIVA was to build a trusted brand that would disrupt the jewelry market. "We wanted to provide fine options at an affordable price range without compromising on the quality of the product. Entrepreneurs looking to enter this space should focus on building a brand out of trust and should never compromise on the purity and quality of products."

GIVA has closed four investment rounds raising a total amount of INR 100 crore. The marquee investors who have been a part of its journey are A91 Partners, Sixth Sense ventures, India Quotient, Grand Anicut Angel Fund, RB Investments, Founder's Bank Capital, Titan Capital, FirstCheque, Lets Venture, Kunal Shah(CRED), Sharechat Founders, Beardo Founders, Ramakant Sharma, Bala Sarda and Rajesh Yabji.

"In future, we might raise the next round in 12 to 18 months depending on the situation and requirement."

GIVA started as an online D2C brand but has recently expanded its offline base. "Mostly we sell our products through our website and mobile app along with our presence in eight major marketplaces like Amazon, Myntra, Nykaa, Ajio. For our offline presence, we have collaborated with Shopper's Stop and will be available at Reliance Trends. We are also planning to launch our standalone experience store in Bangalore."

The brand also faced its share of challenges, "The major challenge encountered was the use of technology for selling a product like jewelry where the touch and feel factor plays a pivotal role. We were able to build that with video cataloging where we were posting short videos of the product to give better aesthetics visibility. A major complexity was the disruption of the supply chain due to the pandemic. There was so much disturbance in the market that we had to shift 70 per cent of our supply chain to India post the first wave of COVID-19."

The brand is looking forward to clocking a revenue of at least INR 200 crore in fiscal year 2022-23. "We will infuse the capital in upgrading our mobile app and website. Along with that, we are planning to expand our offline presence through our own standalone experience store in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai and escalate our retail presence through Shopper's Stop, Reliance Trends."