Bangladesh Angels Facilitates Investment in StridesCo
StridesCo is a multi-brand fashion e-commerce company from Bangladesh led by next generation ready made garment (RMG) leaders. It joins hands with a global leader in e-commerce image processing.
Bangladesh Angels, the leading angel investment network in the country, closed another pre seed investment in StridesCo, a fashion e-commerce company selling premium contemporary clothing and wardrobe essentials for modern Bangladeshis.
Young people in Bangladesh lack access to fashion in line with global trends. They desire high quality products but at affordable prices. There is no easy access to find such products locally and hence StridesCo offers a multi-brand fashion e-commerce platform that curates high quality, contemporary, and affordable product range that has a mix of local and international brands along with private labels.
Kowser Ahmed, angel investor of StridesCo & CEO of Cutoutwiz & The KOW Company, a leader in offshore image and video post-production for the global e-commerce sector based in Bangladesh, adds that “One of the key factors for me joining hands with Strides is the combination of tech and apparel manufacturing experience in founders. Fashion is a tough business everywhere, so having Atiq’s tech expertise [as CTO] and Alavi and Aroni’s apparel manufacturing experience [as CEO and COO] has played a key role in me investing.” The CEO and COO have extensive experience in integrated garment manufacturing through their family firm, Shanta Garments, which has been in the sector for three decades. Cutoutwiz & The KOW Company together serve two of the three biggest sportswear manufacturers in the world.
With close to 40% of the total population being online now, StridesCo’s platform caters to 75% of the e-commerce customers whose age ranges between 18-24 years old.1 The e-commerce industry is ballooning exponentially, having close to 70% month on month growth out of which 40% is in e-commerce sales in fashion.2 Hence, the need for fashion focused multi brand e-commerce platforms are in high demand. Bangladesh Angels Network understands the opportunity the market possesses and has hence backed the company to fulfill 50k orders in the next 12 months.
Alavi Khandoker, COO of StridesCo explains, “With our first pre-seed round secured through BAN we have acquired the right partnership in both resources and shared capabilities towards becoming Bangladesh’s leading online fashion destination. Our goal for 2021 was to increase penetration in the online fashion market, by bringing a wider range of products from our in-house brands and third-party sellers. And thereafter reaching these to our target customers through a stronger e-commerce front and broadening our digital marketing channels.
We have seen that customers are hesitant to buy clothing online mainly due to size confusions. To solve this problem we offer a unique service by providing multiple size trials at delivery, aiming to maximise customer satisfaction and long-term retention. With this pre-seed round we have been able to extend this service throughout Dhaka city, and plan to implement across Bangladesh hopefully in the near future.”
StridesCo has fulfilled 2,000 orders so far. This new investment will help them focus on the local market penetration with the goal of launching new styles every week. The objective is to explore international brands to be introduced in Bangladesh and become the go to destination for contemporary fashion for modern Bangladeshis in the country. They also aspire to explore international markets that bring in augmented reality (AR) features for their customers.
From left to right: Ariq Mansur, CTO | Zahia Khondoker, CEO | Alavi Khondoker, COO
For further information please contact Jawad Yusuf at ahmedjy@bdangels.co.
https://www.lightcastlebd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/E-commerce-Report-2016_LightCastle-Partners.pdf
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/b2b-e-commerce-rise-70pc-2027-2073385