Kaarigar Mandi Secures Seed Funding for AI-Driven Footwear

Kaarigar Mandi, a B2B footwear startup based in the footwear manufacturing hub Agra, has successfully concluded its seed funding round, securing fresh capital from Kyt Ventures, alongside prominent investors such as Upaya Social Ventures, IIMA Ventures and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. With the infusion of 1.75 crore in fresh capital, Kaarigar Mandi plans to grow by ten times in the next two years. The funds will be channeled towards business development and the development of a robust AI-driven technology infrastructure. By harnessing advanced AI capabilities, the startup aims to revolutionize the footwear supply chain by offering tailored solutions to meet the evolving needs of bulk footwear buyers and fashion brands.

Led by the trio - Ankit, Gagan, and Hifza - Kaarigar Mandi brings together a diverse blend of expertise spanning entrepreneurship, sales, footwear manufacturing, and artificial intelligence. This interdisciplinary team equips Kaarigar Mandi with a unique edge, enabling it to leverage the latest technology while drawing from deep-rooted footwear industry insights for problem solving, rapid growth and market dominance.

Initially launched as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) model in 2019, Kaarigar Mandi pivoted to a business-to-business (B2B) model in August 2021. This strategic shift was prompted by industry dynamics and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kaarigar Mandi has been a trusted supply partner of some of the biggest footwear brands in India such as Relaxo, Liberty and BIBA and has grown 5X in last three years.

Ankit Kumar, Co-Founder of Kaarigar Mandi, emphasizes the company's vision to provide end to end footwear sourcing solutions to the global and domestic footwear brands who are dealing with inefficient traditional supply chain within the industry, by connecting them with a network of 40,000 standardized micro &small-scale footwear manufacturers, employing 20,00,000 footwear artisans across India. "Our platform is designed to bridge the gap between traditional artisans and modern bulk buyers," says Kumar. "With this funding, we aim to further strengthen our infrastructure and expand our reach, creating a thriving ecosystem for footwear businesses and fostering economic resilience."

Kyt Co-Founder, Gagan Gupta says, "The market opportunity in the footwear space is INR 1415 billion and is growing at 17% CAGR. This sector remains largely unorganized with significant entry barriers. Recently, the Indian government introduced mandatory BIS licensing for Indian footwear, creating barriers for importing footwear and an opportune environment for innovation, standardization, and growth. Kaarigar Mandi, is the only startup in this space, can be the 'Fashinza' for footwear brands and cater to not only domestic footwear brands but also international ones.”

Kyt Ventures Co-Founder, Dr Anu Gupta says: "The founders of Kaarigar Mandi with their complementary skills, hands-on experience and resilience, are well placed to quickly scale up for building a large enterprise. Furthermore, being located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh provides Kaarigar Mandi with a notable advantage in rapidly expanding its manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand.
Unlike other B2B companies, KaarigarMandi enjoys higher margins as it operates in a niche space of high-end footwear, making it an attractive investment opportunity".

Kyt is sector agnostic and invests upto$1 Million in early-stage startups from pre-seed to pre-series A. BHive Alts, Zomoz, ClearDekho, Settlin, Snackible are few of Kyt’s notable startup investments.

The footwear industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The organized footwear market is growing at 22% CAGR. This upward trajectory is fuelled by evolving consumer preferences and increasing brand consciousness among Indian footwear consumers, leading to a projected surge in organized market share, expected to reach 38% by 2025-26. In line with these industry trends, Kaarigar Mandi is poised for exponential growth.