Plushvie, an AI-backed jewel-tech startup, raises angel round at $1 mn valuation

AI-enabled jewelry e-marketplace, Plushvie, has raised an angel round valued at 1 million USD

Ahmedabad: Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup – ‘Plushvie’ – has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from a local high net-worth individual (HNI). The angel round, that was in the works since the last few months, has been closed at a US$1 million valuation for the startup, making Plushvie Gujarat’s first startup in the space to have raised an angel round.

The fund will be utilised by the jewelry marketplace startup to capitalise on the traction, expanding the seller network, and scale business development. The startup aims to host more than 10 million products on the marketplace by 2020.

Banking upon the country’s preference of gold jewelry, the team of the startup is bullish on its prospects given the AI punch the startup packs. “Not just buying jewelry for investments and special occasions, we also want to help people in celebrating their life’s most important moments by making jewelry gifting as easy as possible,” said Aagam Shah, Plushvie’s Founder and CEO. “The trend of buying expensive jewelry online is big and growing by the day. The challenge is how confusing the choices can be for the consumer, and we are solving that through artificial intelligence.”

Having launched in May 2017, Plushvie has processed over 100 transactions. The startup current works with several brands, offering over 10,000 products for users to choose from. Users can also get recommendations on the platform using the AI-backed jewelry advisor, based on preferences of the user.  “Each item that we sell goes through all necessary certifications that any reputed jewelry store would offer to its retail customer,” adds Shah.

Plushvie is currently being supported by and incubated at Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC), and has been supported under the Student Startup and Innovation Policy of the Gujarat government.