Bagging It Together

Pradeep and Disha started dating on campus, but their relationship evolved as she pursued her career with her startup brand, Zouk.

Although they were not married at the time, she moved to Bombay to be closer to Pradeep, who was based there, with the intention of eventually getting married. “Initially, I ran Zouk by myself while Pradeep worked part-time and supported me by attending exhibitions, assisting with hiring, and approaching potential B2B clients. Also, as Zouk gained traction and more customers fell in love with our brand, Pradeep decided to join us full-time in late 2020 to help achieve our dream of building India’s largest lifestyle brand. Since then, we have been working together to grow Zouk and bring our vision to life,” shares Disha Singh, Founder & CEO, Zouk.

Disha looks at product development, the D2C channel, and the aspects pertaining to its revenue while Pradeep, as the co-founder and COO, manages SCM, marketplaces and offline revenues, HR, and finance. He has scaled Zouk into a promising D2C brand and expanded its distribution from being a purely D2C websitedriven brand to becoming a bestseller on Amazon. Zouk is known to bring the vibrant Indian culture to the modern world with homegrown PETA-Certified vegan Bags, Footwear, and Accessories.

Last month the brand raised $3 million led by Stellaris Venture Partners, Sharrp Ventures, JJ Family Office, and multiple founders including Shark Tank judge Vineeta Singh. Its team includes around 100+ employees. Zouk has become India’s fastest-growing lifestyle startup brand winning over 4 lakh happy customers across India within a short span of time. Further, it also plans to expand its product portfolio and increase its distribution channels by launching five exclusive brand outlets this year. Zouk envisages capturing a significant share of the bags and accessories market of India, which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12 percent to reach US$ 10.6 billion by 2024.