Myntra a large Indian fashion e-commerce since 2007 and it's history

Myntra is a large Indian fashion e-commerce company based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The company was founded in 2007 with the intention of selling personalised gift items. Flipkart purchased Myntra.com in May 2014.

History

Mukesh Bansal, Ashutosh Lawania, and Vineet Saxena founded Myntra, which sold personalised gift items on-demand. During its early years, it primarily used the B2B (business-to-business) model. Customers could personalise T-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, and other items on the site between 2007 and 2010. Myntra began selling fashion and lifestyle products in 2011 and shifted away from personalisation. By 2012, Myntra had 350 Indian and international brands on its website. Fastrack Watches and Being Human were launched on the website. Myntra was acquired by Flipkart in 2014 for 2,000 crore (US$280 million). Tiger Global and Accel Partners, two large common shareholders, influenced the purchase. Myntra functions and operates on its own. Myntra continues to operate as a separate brand under Flipkart's ownership, primarily targeting "fashion-conscious" customers.

Myntra's portfolio in 2014 included approximately 1,50,000 products from over 1000 brands, with a distribution area of approximately 9000 pincodes in India.

Ananth Narayanan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Myntra in 2015. Myntra announced on May 10, 2015, that it would shut down its website and only serve customers through its mobile app beginning on May 15, 2015. The service had already phased out its mobile website in favour of the app. Myntra justified its decision by claiming that mobile devices accounted for 95 percent of website traffic and that smartphones accounted for 70 percent of purchases. The move was met with mixed reactions and resulted in a 10% drop in sales. Recognizing the failure of the "app-only" model, Myntra announced in February 2016 that it would relaunch its website.

Myntra negotiated the rights to manage Esprit Holdings' 15 offline stores in India in September 2017. In the fiscal year 2017-18, Myntra reported a net loss of Rs.151.20 crore.

Myntra changed its logo in January 2021, following a police complaint that the logo resembled a naked woman. A woman named Naaz Patel, who runs an NGO called Avesta Foundation, filed the complaint.

Myntra received its initial funding in October 2007 from Erasmic Venture Fund (now known as Accel Partners), Sasha Mirchandani of Mumbai Angels, and a few other investors. Myntra raised nearly $5 million in November 2008 from NEA-IndoUS Ventures, IDG Ventures, and Accel Partners. In a Series B round of funding, Myntra raised $14 million. Tiger Global, a private equity firm, led this round of investment; existing investors IDG Ventures and Indo-US Venture Partners also contributed significantly to Myntra's funding. Myntra.com raised $20 million in its third round of funding, led once again by Tiger Global, near the end of 2011. Myntra raised an additional $50 million (Rs.310 crore) in funding in February 2014 from Premji Invest and a few other private investors.

Myntra acquired Bengaluru-based mobile app development platform company Native5 in April 2015, with the goal of strengthening and expanding Myntra's mobile technology team.

Myntra acquired Cubeit, a mobile-based content aggregation platform, in July 2016 to strengthen and expand its technology team.

Myntra acquired rival Jabong.com in July 2016 to become India's largest fashion platform. Myntra collaborated with the Ministry of Textiles in October 2017 to promote the handloom industry. InLogg, a city-based technology platform for the e-commerce sector, was acquired by the company in April 2017.

Myntra acquired Bengaluru-based start-up Witworks, a maker of wearable devices, in April 2018 to strengthen its technology team.

Myntra acquired Mumbai-based start-up Pretr Online Services Pvt. Ltd., an end-to-end omnichannel retail platform, in August 2018.

Digital Reality Show (Fashion Influencer)

The main article is: Fashion Superstar on Myntra on September 17, 2019, Myntra launched its first digital reality show "Myntra Fashion Superstar," which is based on a fashion influencer talent hunt, on the Myntra app.

 This show, produced in collaboration with Zoom Studios, will identify and reward India's next big fashion influencer.  The show will consist of eight episodes of reality television in which ten contestants will compete against one another. They'd also be mentored and judged by a celebrity-studded jury from Bollywood, TV, and fashion, including Bollywood diva Sonakshi Sinha and leading celebrity stylist Shaleena Nathani. 

By

Don Joseph Laiju