People don’t simply want beautiful objects in their homes — they want their purchases to put more good in the world.
Meanwhile, highly skilled, local artisans in places like India are forced to walk away from multi-generational vocations because of a lack of meaningful distribution — for example, roughly 30% of India's artisans had left their crafts between 1980-2010. That’s where Mela Aristans comes in. They partner with more than 3,500 artisans to create a unique supply chain, consistent fair wages and a global market for their goods that enable them to keep preserve cultural heritage while meeting the rising consumer demand for high quality, unique home goods produced in meaningful and responsible ways. 2
After scaling to millions in annual revenue and distribution more than 1000 stores 3, they showed their commitment to impact and community by opening a Purpose Round to accelerate growth and further its commitment to empowering artisans across India, Vietnam, and Indonesia 4. They worked with the team at Renew VC and Dealmaker to launch a bespoke offering, including a dedicated landing page to showcase the opportunity and investment incentives that included early bird bonus shares, products, and experiences with the artisans themselves. 5
“We are really excited to democratize investing,” said founder Navroze Mehta. “It’s been in this bubble where investors typically have had to invest quite significant amounts of capital, usually $25,000 or more, to participate in any kind of offering in a startup environment. So the movement in the last few years has been a really brilliant way to allow anyone in the audience to participate in what they believe in and invest in it and see the growth and participate in that upside and share in everything Mela has to offer.” 3