Bangalore: Bangalore based ecommerce company, Myntra.com has secured $20 million in its series C round of funding from Tiger Global. The funding also saw the participation from existing investors IndoUS Venture Partners and Accel Partners. The funds would be invested in the company’s technology platform, improve the brand visibility and in the supply chain to build the capacity for future growth. The company has raised a total of $38 million till date.

“The VC community is closely tracking this booming segment and backing young companies. This sudden rise in interest is due to the growing internet penetration in India and also the change in the buying characteristics of the Indian population. People seem to have more faith in online buying than they had a few years ago,” says Mukesh Bansal, Founder & CEO, Myntra.com.

The company was founded in 2007 by Mukesh Bansal. It has tied up with various fashion brands like Nike, Levis, Lee, Flying Machine, and many others. Its offers its customers with the latest in-season product catalogue, 100 percent authentic products, cash on delivery option, and a 30 day return. The company is headquartered in Bangalore and has regional offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Bansal feels that the ecommerce is the fastest growing sector in the country and many of the successful non-travel e-commerce portals are seeing a growth of double digit revenue every five to six months. The segment was pegged at 2,700 crores in 2011 and is estimated to grow between 100-150 percent over next three to four years.

The company currently employs over 450 members across its offices in Bangalore and Delhi, including its warehouse also. It aims to double this number within the next 12 months. It states that 50 percent of all its demands are from the top 10 cities, while the remaining are from the tier-2 and tier-3 cities. “We have been witnessing a growth in the demand from tier-2 and 3 cities over the past 6 months primarily due to improved distribution and limited availability of national and international brands in these regions,” adds Bansal.

The company estimates the overall Lifestyle category in India at around $45 billion, growing at 16 percent CAGR. It feels that the industry is expected to cross $100 billion in 2015, with approximately 5-10 percent of it being online. It also estimates that majority of the players in the e-tailing segment are operating in the discounting model with past season merchandize offering deep discounts and flash sales. Bansal also adds, “Myntra.com on the other hand retails only the latest and current season fashion and offers discounts only during the end of every season. Hence, we are quite comfortably positioned in the market.” Prior to founding Myntra.com, Bansal was the Director-Product Management at NewScale, and Senior Product Manager at Centrata. He was also the Senior Software Engineer at Ewanted.com, a Software Engineer at Nextag.com, and a Systems Analyst at Deloitte Consulting. Bansal pursued his B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT, Kanpur.

Accel Partners is a venture capital firm which supports entrepreneurs possessing unique insight to define new categories and build world-class companies. Its famous portfolio companies include Facebook, Veritas Software, RealNetworks, Riverbed, MetroPCS, Macromedia, and many others.

Tiger Global Management manages hedge and private equity funds. It invests in public and private equity markets, primarily in U.S., China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. It was founded in 2001, with its headquarters in New York and offices in Beijing, China, and Mumbai. Few of its portfolio investments include Warby Parker, Trendyol, Exclusively.in, GetJar Networks, and Zynga.