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Lab-Grown Diamond Brand Jewelbox Raises $3.2M to Fuel Nationwide Expansion

Backed by V3 Ventures and others, Kolkata-based startup aims to grow retail presence, bolster brand visibility, and expand its team across India.

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Kolkata-based lab-grown diamond jewellery brand Jewelbox has secured $3.2 million in pre-Series A funding, led by V3 Ventures, with participation from Atrium Angels, Dexter Ventures, Infinyte Club, Samarthya Capital, and existing investor JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation (JIIF).

The company, co-founded in May 2022 by siblings Vidita Kochar Jain and Nipun Kochar, plans to use the fresh capital to scale operations, enhance brand visibility, and hire talent across core functions.

Currently operating eight stores across six Indian cities—Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Guwahati—Jewelbox is eyeing rapid growth, with a goal to expand to 30 retail locations by the end of 2025.

“The competition in the lab-grown diamond space is heating up, but we welcome it,” said Jain. “Whether it’s legacy brands, established entrepreneurs, or startups entering the space—it validates the category.”

Jewelbox, which sells its jewellery both online and offline, closed FY25 with an annual revenue run rate (ARR) of ₹38 crore, more than doubling from ₹16 crore in the previous year. The brand had earlier raised ₹3.7 crore in seed funding from JIIF in March 2024.

The funding comes at a time when lab-grown diamonds are gaining traction as a more sustainable and affordable alternative to natural diamonds. The segment is seeing increasing investor interest and consumer adoption.

The broader category is also drawing new entrants. Last month, Priyanka Gill, co-founder of the Good Glamm Group, launched Coluxe, a new lab-grown diamond brand that has already secured early-stage funding. Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based jewellery brand Giva is reportedly in talks with Creaegis to raise $80–100 million, valuing the company between $470–500 million, following its entry into lab-grown diamonds.

On the regulatory front, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently confirmed there are no plans for additional regulations, citing the industry’s healthy growth under a self-regulatory model.

Jewelbox and other emerging players—including Aukera, Giva, and Green Lab Diamonds—have also approached the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to dispute the classification of lab-grown diamonds as “synthetic,” arguing that it misrepresents their nature by equating them with lookalike simulants like cubic zirconia.

Commenting on the investment, Arjun Vaidya, co-founder and managing partner at V3 Ventures, said: “Less than 6% of Indians own diamonds today. With rising aspirations and growing awareness, lab-grown diamonds can democratize luxury in India—and Jewelbox is well-positioned to lead that change.”

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QWEEN Launches ‘Drama QWEENS’, An Original Microdrama Series Bringing The Unspoken Conversations Women Into The Open

The Instagram-First Series Brings Five Women Together To Tackle The Difficult Questions, Contradictions and Expectations Women Navigate Every Day.

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QWEEN, India’s first self-discovery, 100% natural experiential luxury jewellery brand, has launched Drama QWEENS, an original Instagram-first microdrama series centred on the conversations women have, but don’t always say out loud.

Traditional jewellery advertising often makes jewellery the protagonist. Drama QWEENS reverses this construct by placing women and their individual journeys at the centre, while allowing jewellery to exist naturally within their world. Their ambitions, insecurities, relationships and everyday challenges drive the narrative, not the products they wear. 

The ten-episode series features Diljot Chhabra as Noor Baig, Simran Natekar as Anaya Bajaj, Samvedna Suwalka as Natasha Prabhu, Priya Banerjee as Isabella Patel, and Rytasha Rathore as Aashi Paswan. Spanning ages 22 to 39, the series brings together women from different professions, backgrounds and stages of life. Their bond takes shape through a film club they form together, where the stories they watch become a lens through which they explore their own lives, choices and struggles.

The five characters also embody QWEEN’s brand personas: Noor as Gala Grandeur, Isabella as Party Girl, Anaya as Untamed in Love, Aashi as Femininity Reclaimed, and Natasha as I Want It All.

These personas don’t exist only on screen. At QWEEN’s Noida store, each has a dedicated zone shaped through design and jewellery curation. Drama QWEENS carries these personalities beyond the store, giving each one a voice and a life of her own.

The first episode of Drama QWEENS follows a woman preparing to get married, who begins questioning why her wedding has to become a performance for guests she barely knows. Why dance to five songs simply because that’s what’s expected? She wants to get married for herself, rather than follow a script written by society.

The second episode shifts the conversation from romantic ideals to the timelines women are expected to follow. Anaya, 22, and Natasha, 39, bond over a nostalgic debate about Shah Rukh Khan, until the conversation takes a more personal turn. What emerges are the labels they’ve each had to carry – from being dismissed as “too young” to, in Natasha’s case, being called a “crazy, hot, divorced woman with opinions.”

The episode challenges the idea that love, ambition and self-worth come with a timeline. At 22, 32 or 39, the feelings can remain the same; only the labels change.

Commenting on the launch, Amit Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, QWEEN, said:

“With Drama QWEENS, we wanted to turn the lens around. If jewellery advertising has traditionally told women when they need jewellery for a wedding, a milestone, a celebration or because someone else is buying it for them – we wanted to start somewhere else: with the woman herself.
Advertising has spent years showing women how to look, what to buy and how to celebrate. It rarely stops to ask what women are actually talking about. The woman is the protagonist. Jewellery is part of her story, not the reason for it.


Through Drama QWEENS, we want QWEEN to be a brand that encourages women to take up space, own their choices, own the labels placed on them and define themselves on their own terms.”

The idea for Drama QWEENS emerged from QWEEN’s consumer research, which uncovered conversations women regularly have with friends and in online communities, but rarely see reflected with the same honesty in mainstream advertising.

The first season draws from ten such conversations and lived experiences, spanning marriage, creative setbacks, pay parity, negotiating one’s worth, modern relationships and the timelines women are expected to follow. Through humour and the warmth of female friendship, the series turns these conversations into stories.

For QWEEN, jewellery is part of a woman’s everyday life – a form of self-expression and agency, rather than something reserved for weddings, festivals, gifting or externally defined milestones. It can be worn simply because it reflects who she is, what she feels and the moments she chooses to celebrate for herself.

The first season of Drama QWEENS marks the beginning of an ongoing microdrama series for QWEEN. Audience responses, comments and direct messages will help shape the subjects and stories explored in future seasons.

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