Indian vegan lifestyle brand Zouk raises $1.5m in Stellaris-led round

Zouk, a vegan lifestyle brand based in India, is looking at expanding its reach overseas after netting US$1.5 million in a pre-series A round led by Stellar Ventures. Seed funder Titan Capital returned for this round, joined by new investor Wow Skin Science.

Zouk’s India-made products use 100% vegan leather / Photo credit: Zouk

The Indian direct-to-consumer firm sells products such as bags and wallets that are locally manufactured with 100% vegan leather. The new capital will not only help bring Zouk’s cruelty-free, locally designed products to US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, but it will also go towards expanding its headcount at home.

“Our first milestone is to scale Zouk to a 1 billion rupee (around US$13.4 million) brand in the next couple of years,” said co-founder and CEO Disha Singh. “We then want to chart the path to hitting 1,000 crores (around US$134 million) in the next few years.”

The global vegan food market is expected to reach US$31.4 billion by 2026. In India alone, mock meat is expected to be a US$1 billion industry.

But veganism goes beyond food consumption, as it spills over to other industries that ensure zero harm to animals at any point in production. Zouk’s growth relies on this consumer space.

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*Currency converted from Indian rupee to US dollar: US$1 = 74.58 rupees