CHK, a direct−to−consumer (D2C) footwear startup has raised $2.5 million in seed funding round led by Accel, a global venture capital firm.
The funds raised will be used to accelerate production and strengthen its go-to-market strategy ahead of its public launch in April.
Previously in November 2024, CHK raised ₹12 crore (approximately $1.3 million) in pre-seed funding from BlueStone Jewellery and Lifestyle.
“Getting this backing of marquee investors like Accel and BlueStone will go a long way in enabling our mission of producing world-class and end-to-end ‘Concept to Creation’ shoes that redefine lifestyle footwear for India’s discerning and fashion-conscious youth,” said Sankar Bora, co-founder of CHK.
Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel said, “With CHK, we are excited to get an early ringside seat for what promises to be an exciting journey in building a manufacturing-led innovative D2C footwear brand out of India. Sankar and his team are reimagining lifestyle footwear for India’s fashion-conscious youth and their ‘Concept to Creation’ model aligns with global trends of integrated manufacturing that enables brands to rapidly adapt to evolving consumer preferences.”
“We saw many commonalities in CHK’s founding team’s vision for CHK and BlueStone’s own journey as a manufacturing-led, concept-to-creation lifestyle brand. With CHK, we have an opportunity to help the team build and scale the brand quickly and, in the process, also transform how young Indians buy and use lifestyle footwear,” said Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder and CEO at BlueStone.
Founded in October 2024 by Sankar Bora, Deepan Babu, Bharat Mahajan and Deepak Patil, CHK offers lifestyle footwear in innovative, trend-setting styles tailored for fashion-forward millennials and Gen-Z Indians who make up a significant portion of the country’s young professional demographic.
