Nuyug, a celebration-wear jewellery brand launched in 2024, has raised ₹2.5 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by AJVC, with participation from a group of strategic angel investors. The young company announced that the funds will be used to expand distribution, broaden its jewellery catalogue, and strengthen design innovation to improve durability and safety.

Funding purpose and immediate plans

According to the company, the fresh infusion will be directed towards three strategic priorities:

• Expanding distribution: Building a presence across both online platforms and offline retail to capture a wider customer base.
• Diversifying the product range: Designing collections that reflect India’s regional and cultural diversity, ensuring relevance for multiple festive and social occasions.
• Investment in R&D and design innovation: Improving material longevity and ensuring pieces are skin-safe, tackling a common problem in the imitation jewellery segment.

The startup emphasised that its long-term goal is to create a trusted mass-premium jewellery brand that balances affordability with aesthetics.

Founders and brand positioning

Nuyug was co-founded in August 2024 by Ankur Dua and Manali Thareja. The founders describe their company as operating in the “masstige” segment, a space that blends mass affordability with the aspirations of premium fashion.

Its jewellery collections are designed for celebratory occasions such as weddings, festivals, and social gatherings. Unlike traditional imitation jewellery, which often lacks quality and safety standards, Nuyug claims to offer thoughtfully designed, gold-toned, skin-safe pieces that appeal to the modern consumer.

“Indian women today want jewellery that is not only stylish but also safe and reliable. The industry has long been dominated by inconsistent supply chains and generic designs. Nuyug is our attempt to build a brand that resonates with today’s generation,” said co-founder Ankur Dua.

Early traction and growth

Despite being less than a year old, Nuyug has reported impressive early progress:

• The brand claims to have crossed an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of ₹1 crore within its first eight months.
• It has introduced more than 400 product designs, targeting multiple festive and social use-cases.
• Its distribution footprint includes its direct-to-consumer (D2C) website, alongside established e-commerce platforms such as Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, and Amazon.

This strategy of combining marketplace visibility with D2C control is seen as a strong foundation for building customer loyalty in a competitive segment.

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Lead investor (AJVC)

The round was led by AJVC (A Junior VC), a SEBI-registered pre-seed venture capital firm founded by Aviral Bhatnagar. AJVC positions itself as one of India’s most accessible early-stage funds, known for quick decision-making and strong founder support.

The firm has invested across diverse consumer categories and previously backed Mithila Foods, an FMCG company specialising in Bihar-origin products. AJVC’s investment in Nuyug underscores its interest in consumer-focused, culturally relevant brands.

Market context: India’s growing jewellery landscape

The Indian jewellery sector is worth over ₹5 lakh crore and is predominantly characterised by fine gold and diamond jewellery, however in recent years there has been a sharp increase in demand for quality but affordable alternatives that fall in between cheap imitation jewellery and high quality fine jewellery.

These trends are predominantly being driven by Millennials and Gen-Z consumers who are searching for jewellery that has a degree of style, affordability, safety for their skins, influences the longevity of the product, with key consumer drivers for purchase alongside providing variety for them to wear across outfits and occasions.

The ongoing cycles of seasonal festivals and weddings remain the top drivers of demand, with the celebration-wear space being one of the quickest growing niches to capture the demand.

In this journey, Nuyug’s masstige positioning provides its own competitive edge. Through the provision of high-quality but affordable products in this massive and rapidly maturing market, the Nuyug brand is positioned for expansion.

What’s next for Nuyug

With this pre-seed funding, Nuyug is expected to:

• Strengthen its supply chain infrastructure to ensure consistent quality.
• Expand into offline retail formats, particularly in metros and tier-1 cities where demand for celebration jewellery is strongest.
• Continue investing in design-led innovation, focusing on regionally inspired collections that celebrate India’s cultural diversity.

As competition heats up in affordable jewellery, Nuyug will be measured on how well it can maintain design differentiation and consumer trust while scaling. Industry observers point out that it is the brands ability to convert festival-based purchases into repeat, year-round demand that will be the marker of success.

Nuyug is taking an affordable, design-centric and culturally relevant approach to re-think India’s celebration-wear jewellery category. With the support of AJVC and initial traction in sales, the brand is on track to create a meaningful presence in a sector that needs some fresh, dependable and stylish options.

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