Startup Street: Melorra's jewellery sales outlook; Fi raises $50 million

Dhanteras is considered an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar for buying metals and items made of metal, ranging from precious metals like gold and silver to utensils. So, at this time of the year, there is no surprise seeing crowds thronging jewellery markets to mark this day. While last year saw poor sales, reports suggest consumers are back with a bang and most jewellers are seeing a 20-25 percent increase in sales from 2019. To discuss the trends and sales expectations this festival season, Startup Street spoke to Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO of direct-to-consumer fine jewellery brand, Melorra.

Neobank Fi, which offers banking solutions to working professionals, has raised $50 million at a valuation of $315 million from B Capital Group, Falcon Edge and others, in addition to an earlier interim round with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital. The latest round boosts the company's valuation by seven times, from their Series A round in 2020. The company says over a million users had registered on Fi's waitlist to open a savings account and it has now opened up its app access to all. Startup Street spoke to Co-founder Sumit Gwalani.

Founded in 2020, employee wellness platform, Nova Benefits, focusses on corporate health insurance for small companies. The tech platform helps improve employee well-being via health insurance, daily fitness, mental health counselling and wellness programmes. The company saw a surge in clients amidst the pandemic and witnessed 10X growth. The start-up recently raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Bessemer Ventures. To discuss the company's growth blueprint Saransh Garg, Co-founder and CEO of Nova Benefits, spoke to Startup Street.