Premji Invest-backed jewellery startup GIVA has doubled its topline from Rs 255 crore to around Rs 510 crore during the 2024-25 financial year. It also narrowed its losses on the back of stronger same-store sales growth, founder and CEO Ishendra Agarwal told FE.
Same-store sales, also called comparable-store sales, measure the revenue growth of a retail chain’s existing stores over a period, excluding impact from new store openings or closures.
Agarwal said same-store sales growth was more than 65% during FY25. This helped the company reduce its losses to about Rs 42 crore from Rs 47 crore in FY24.
GIVA added around 100 offline stores last year, bringing the total across India to 290. This year, the company plans to add another 145-150 stores, including in tier II cities, where it is seeing strong traction. The company gets around 40% of its revenue from offline stores, while the rest is from its website, marketplaces and quick commerce platforms.
With the expansion, Agarwal expects to end the current fiscal with a topline of around `850 crore and a positive Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation).
While GIVA started in 2019 with everyday wear silver jewellery, it expanded to lab-grown diamonds last year amid a boom of new and legacy players in the space. At present, lab-grown diamonds with gold contribute about 20% of its overall revenue.
Agarwal pointed out that the growth in low-budget jewellery comes as women shift from viewing jewellery purely as an investment to a fashion accessory. As more women in tier 1 and 2 cities participate in work and social events, there’s a growing demand for affordable, varied jewellery.
Moreover, with alternatives like gold ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and sovereign gold bonds now easily accessible, the need to treat jewellery solely as an investment has reduced. “An increase in the price of gold has also shifted consumer preference towards 18-14 carat gold jewellery from 22 carat, which was the more prevalent choice earlier,” Agarwal said.
As the company expands its footprint across India, GIVA will also invest in expanding some of its non-core segments, such as men’s and kids’ jewellery. It is also testing the international markets by opening a few stores in Sri Lanka. The company has so far raised close to $70 million from investors such as Alteria Capital, Northern Arc, A91 Partners, and angels such as Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal and Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl.