Bengaluru textile startup Stch has raised US$7 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Omnivore, with participation from Kae Capital and WVC, according to YourStory. The company plans to use the funds to expand its AI tools and partnerships with mills and fashion brands.
Company Background and Founders
Stch was founded in 2025 by Narahari Payala and Aseem Chitkara, both former executives at Zetwerk. The startup operates a contract development and manufacturing model for fabric research and production across India and other Asian regions.
AI-Driven Fabric Reverse-Engineering
Stch uses artificial intelligence to reverse-engineer fabrics for manufacturing rather than creating consumer-facing design tools. The platform reads images and descriptions, then converts them into technical specifications such as texture, weight, and finish. Once specifications are generated, the startup recreates those materials in partnership with local manufacturers.
The approach has demonstrated cost benefits. According to the company, one UK brand lowered sourcing costs by nearly 20% after using Stch to reproduce its fabrics in India instead of Turkey.
Business Model and Manufacturing Network
Stch does not own factories. Instead, it secures production capacity from partner facilities and manufactures through a network across India and Bangladesh. This asset-light model allows the company to scale production without capital-intensive infrastructure investments.
Market Traction and Competitive Positioning
The company has an order book exceeding US$15 million from brands in the UK, Europe, and the US. Stch is building a proprietary set of “fabric recipes” based on accumulated data about fabric development and manufacturing knowledge, which the company views as a defensible competitive advantage.
The startup represents a broader trend in fashion technology where AI value is generated through factory and supply chain operations rather than consumer-facing tools. This approach addresses growing geopolitical risk in manufacturing by enabling brands to diversify production across multiple regions and reduce concentration risk in their manufacturing base.
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