Fast fashion startup Virgio, founded by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, said it has raised $37 million in a funding round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Partner and Accel Partners. This is a significant infusion of capital by institutional investors in an early-stage round, given the ongoing funding winter. September that the venture arm of Dutch-listed internet major Prosus was in advanced talks to invest in Virgio, joining the likes of Accel and Alpha Wave. While the round has been constructed in phases, Virgio’s valuation is estimated to be around $160 million after this funding infusion, according to people briefed on the matter.

The company said that it will use the money to invest further in technology and hire more people. Catering to Gen Z and late millennial audience, Virgio is building a fashion tech platform that will allow designers to access consumer preferences in real time. It is also envisioning a tech-led network of factories that will enable designers to quickly build prototypes, get consumer feedback, and scale up production.

Virgio is seen as the Indian version of Chinese fashion behemoth Shein, which rose to fame for its ultra-fast fashion business model. The company was barred from operating in India by the government following a border dispute between India and China.

Mukesh Bansal, founder of Cultfit and president at Tata Digital, is also an investor in the firm, as ET had previously reported. Other investors include Cred cofounder Kunal Shah, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, Ola cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal, Meesho cofounder Vidit Aatrey, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, Swiggy cofounder Sriharsha Majety, angel investor Mekin Maheswari, Phonepe cofounder Sameer Nigam, Reddy Ventures and Viko Ventures.

Virgio recently opened its platform to consumers and its app has been downloaded over 100,000 times. Its Singles’ Day sale last month saw 1 million new users use the platform. Virgio currently has about 20,000 daily active users.

Before starting Virgio, Nagaram worked at Flipkart for almost seven years, moving to its subsidiary Myntra in 2019. He became CEO of the fashion etailer after Ananth Narayanan quit the post following Walmart's acquisition of Flipkart in 2018.