Rare Planet raises 3.5cr from Venture Catalysts and Uni-M Ventures

With an aim to provide sustainable employment to millions of artisans across rural India, lifestyle retail start-up Rare Planet today announced raising INR 3.5cr in a pre-series A round led by Uni-M Ventures and Venture Catalysts. Demonstrating his faith in the venture’s vision, Sagar Daryani, Co-Founder of Wow! Momo also participated in the round.  The current Investment will allow Rare Planet to grow its product range, expansion in newer markets and also in widening its online business.

Established in 2015 by Ranodeep Saha and Vijay Kumar, Rare Planet is one of India’s first handmade lifestyle brands which infuses the core traditional art forms with modern techniques and create great quality lifestyle products. The start-up aims to promote indigenous Indian handicrafts by empowering local artisans thereby providing them with sustainable employment opportunities. Rare Planet till date has helped more than 2,000 artisan families from rural areas to register an average increase of 120% in their income.

Currently present in more than 100 locations across India, Rare Planet has retailed more than 5 lakh units worth INR 20 crore to date. With the latest investment, it aims to take handmade Indian handicrafts, jewellery, and decor products made from terracotta, copper, ceramic, brass, wood, and marble, etc. to a global stage and disrupt the $8 billion handicrafts market.

Speaking on the investment, Ranodeep Saha, CEO & Co-Founder – Rare Planet, said, “The pandemic has had a major impact on the economy as well as the investment landscape. To secure an investment from top investors such as Venture Catalysts,Uni-M Ventures and Sagar Daryani, in such a scenario, validates the strength of our business proposition. We remain committed to creating greater value for rural artisans and taking indigenous Indian handicraft items to a much larger audience across the globe keeping the Profits growing quarter on quarter.”

Commenting on the investment, lead investor, Nav Bhaiya , Co-Founder  Uni-M Ventures said, "Rare Planet is a rare combination of Business Acumen and Socio - economic values . Through product innovation, technology and scale, they are enabling Aatma-Nirbhar in real sense. We, at Uni-M Ventures, are completely committed to the vision of the company and are confident that it will put Indian Kaarigars on International Map."

After the Massive Success of its DeshKaKulhad campaign with Tata Consumer Products during Independence this year, Rare Planet is closely working on making its direct to consumer presence more stronger. The brand offers a wide range of modern and modified handicrafts in association with partner stores across all Indian airports.

Rare Planet had earlier raised a seed round of 1.1 Cr May 2019 led by Venture Catalyst.