CHK, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) footwear startup, has secured a $2.5 million funding round from investment firm Accel, jewellery retailer Bluestone, and some individual investors. Bluestone invested about Rs 12 crore (around $1.3 million) in the company in November 2024.
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CHK has a production plant in Tamil Nadu and intends to commence sales through its direct-to-consumer website before expanding into offline retail channels. The company now employs approximately 25 people in Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu, with aspirations to raise headcount to 100 by April.CHK intends to use the new funds to speed manufacturing and boost its research and development (R&D) operations before its public launch in April.
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Co-founder Sankar Bora said, “After leaving DealShare, I wanted to create a brand in fashion, which has always been close to my heart. I found sneakers to be a promising category given the structural change in usage patterns among the younger generations. Moreover, there is a white space in design innovation-focused sneakers in premium and mass-premium categories.”
“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,” said Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel.
About CHK
Bengaluru-based CHK was founded in 2024 by Sankar Bora, Deepan Babu, Bharat Mahajan and Deepak Patil. It is a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu and plans to start sales through its own D2C website before moving into offline retail. The company has about 25 employees in Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu and aims to grow the team to 100 by April.
