GUNAS, America’s first vegan handbag company, has successfully completed its seed investment round of a quarter million dollars from an anonymous angel investor at a valuation of USD $5 million.
Sugandh Agrawal, founder of GUNAS
Neil Mohinani, an independent finance professional in New York City, brought in strategic angel investors with the objective of expanding the product offering and geographic reach of the brand’s customer base.
The angel investors saw GUNAS as a lifestyle brand aligned to shifting millennial preferences associated with conscious consumerism and high design. Mohinani believes the company is on a growth path to cross a $100 million-dollar valuation within five years given its current growth rates and product strategy.
Over the past four years, sales of GUNAS handbags and accessories went up by approximately 30% annually as the brand’s message of mindful consumerism increasingly resonated with its audience globally. The company has a growing social media base and a healthy list of customers in over 40 countries. In June last year, GUNAS won the Macy’s Best Retail Bag Award in New York City through the Independent Handbag Awards.
The company will use the $250,000 investment to introduce uniquely designed and 100% plant-based artisanal beauty bars, starting with pure olive oil soap in floral fragrances and volcanic ash. “Beauty soaps have a huge opportunity in terms of being animal-free and formulated with pure ingredients,” said GUNAS founder Sugandh Agrawal. “This new direction is an extension of our core values of inner beauty inside and out, without harming any living being.”
In addition to the monetary investment, the angel investor – who prefers to remain anonymous – will provide GUNAS with trademarking help, digital marketing and expanding sales in Asia, as well as placing the brand’s fashion and beauty products with Asian celebrities.
GUNAS is exhibiting at AmericasMart Atlanta, June 12-15, 2019, Booth #755.
