In a major move for the Indian textile technology sector, Bengaluru-based startup STCH has successfully closed a $7 million pre-Series A funding round, signaling a significant shift in how global fashion brands approach fabric research and production.
The funding, led by agrifood and climate-focused venture capital firm Omnivore, with additional participation from Kae Capital and WVC, provides the capital necessary for STCH to aggressively scale its artificial intelligence capabilities and expand its specialized fabric research and development infrastructure.
Since its inception in 2025, the startup has quickly carved out a niche as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that sits at the critical intersection of material science and supply chain orchestration, aiming to solve the systemic inefficiencies that have long plagued global textile sourcing.
The fashion industry has historically relied on manual, trial-and-error processes for fabric development, a cycle that often leads to prolonged lead times and misaligned production outputs.
STCH is disrupting this outdated model by utilizing an AI-native platform that analyzes global fashion trends, decodes fabric specifications—such as texture, weight, and finish—and integrates these insights directly into a controlled manufacturing network spanning India and Asia.
By transforming visual cues and product descriptions into precise “fabric recipes,” the company allows global brands to transition from concept to production in approximately 45 days, a velocity that significantly outpaces traditional procurement methods.
The founders, Narahari Payala and Aseem Chitkara, who bring extensive operational expertise from their previous tenure at Zetwerk, are positioning STCH not merely as an aggregator, but as a full-stack backend partner for international labels across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States.
This capital infusion arrives at a pivotal moment as STCH manages an order book exceeding $15 million, serving major brands like Roman, Joe Browns, and Being Human, among others.
The company’s strategic roadmap focuses on shifting the narrative of AI in fashion from front-end consumer-facing applications to the high-leverage manufacturing layer, which is where the most significant opportunities for optimization, cost reduction, and sustainability exist. As geopolitical dynamics encourage fashion brands to diversify their production bases away from concentrated manufacturing hubs, STCH’s AI-orchestrated platform provides the transparency and reliability required to anchor supply chains in India.
By developing proprietary formulations that merge the feel of synthetic materials with the benefits of sustainable fibers, the startup is directly addressing the trade-off between performance and eco-friendliness, a balance that remains top-of-mind for modern global retailers.
Looking ahead, the investment will facilitate the build-out of a dedicated fabric R&D lab, an essential asset for iterating on proprietary textile formulations and ensuring rigorous quality control across their decentralized network of partner mills. Industry experts suggest that the successful execution of this model could establish STCH as a premier, globally scalable textile innovation powerhouse.
With the demand for agile, data-backed supply chain solutions intensifying, the company is betting on the fact that the future of fashion rests on the ability to marry cutting-edge AI with the tangible realities of shop-floor manufacturing, effectively turning the complex process of fabric development into a repeatable, scalable, and high-performance system.
Key Highlights:
- Strategic Funding: STCH raised $7 million in a pre-Series A round led by Omnivore, with participation from Kae Capital and WVC, to scale its AI-native textile R&D and manufacturing platform.
- Technological Innovation: The startup utilizes an AI-driven CDMO model to convert fashion trend data into precise fabric specifications, enabling brands to reduce lead times to roughly 45 days.
- Market Traction: With an order book exceeding $15 million, STCH is actively partnering with major fashion retailers in the UK, Europe, and the US to streamline the transition from design concept to large-scale production.
- Supply Chain Focus: Unlike consumer-facing fashion AI, STCH optimizes the backend manufacturing layer, leveraging its founders’ deep operational experience to shift production to more resilient, sustainable hubs across India and Asia.