Former Myntra CEO's Fashion Startup Virgio Pivots A Year After $37 Million Fundraise

Virgio, a fast fashion startup founded by former Myntra Chief Executive Officer Amar Nagaram, has said it will be pivoting to "sustainable clothing", about a year after it raised funds from marquee backers such as Prosus and Accel Ltd.

On Saturday, Nagaram took to LinkedIn to share that Virgio has come to a "crossroads" exactly a year after launch. The startup is at "a significant turning point", he said while sharing a photo that suggested the company was closing operations.

However, Nagaram clarified that Virgio was not shutting down on Monday.

"We’re evolving into something even more meaningful and powerful. Being one of the fastest-growing fast fashion brands in India, we’ve soared higher than we’d imagined when we started off last year," he wrote. "That’s why we’ve made a conscious choice to move our entire efforts to build a circular fashion brand."

Fast fashion promotes overproduction and overconsumption and is fueling a "global crisis", Nagaram said.

"In the last few months, we’ve deconstructed each aspect of what goes into making a garment to make it more circular and more conscious, and we cannot wait to share the groundbreaking work that has come out of this hard work," he wrote.

Nagaram's flip comes about a year after Virgio raised $37 million, or about Rs 300 crore, from investors such as Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave, and Accel in its Series A round at a valuation of $160 million, or about Rs 1,330 crore.