Bengaluru, India, Apr 23: STCH, an AI-native CDMO platform for sustainable textile innovation — building the AI-driven fabric R&D and manufacturing platform that helps global fashion brands develop and deliver trend-aligned, high-performing, sustainable fabrics at scale — today announced its emergence from stealth with a $5.5 million Pre–Series A funding round. The round was led by Omnivore, India’s leading agrifood and climate venture capital firm, with participation from Kae Capital and White Venture Capital.
STCH leverages AI to identify global fashion trends, develop sustainable fabrics, and deliver them through its closely controlled manufacturing network across India and Asia.
STCH’s AI engine drives two critical functions:
● Fabric R&D — continuously innovating on textile recipes to enhance performance, while increasing the share of sustainable fibers, without compromising on the performance or price points of conventional synthetics
● Supply chain optimization — intelligently matching trending fabrics and designs with the right manufacturing capacities to enable agile, seamless production and delivery at scale
Until today, STCH has operated under the radar, building a rapidly growing order book now exceeding $15 million across the UK, Europe, the USA, and India, serving global brands including Roman, Joe Browns, Shein, Crocodile, Being Human, CP Brands, and Rainforest. For its customers, STCH develops high-performing textile formulations, enabling higher use of sustainable fibers while reducing dependence on petrochemical-based synthetics that contribute to microplastic pollution and harm ocean ecosystems.
STCH was founded by Narahari Payala and Aseem Chitkara, both formerly of Zetwerk, where Narahari built and led the textiles division globally at scale. Aseem brings deep industry expertise as a fabric veteran and former CXO across multiple textile mills. Their strong, long-standing relationships with global brands, mills, and manufacturers give STCH a distinct execution edge — building not just for materials innovation, but for how textile supply chains operate at commercial scale.
According to Narahari Payala, Co-Founder & CEO, “While much of AI innovation in fashion is focused on the front end — largely driven out of the US and Europe — the real opportunity lies deeper in the backend of the supply chain: fiber – fabric – manufacturing. That is where we are focused on driving disruption using AI. Fabric, in particular, remains the most critical — most cost-intensive — yet least optimized layer. With much of this activity centered in Asia, and improving trade dynamics — including free trade agreements with the UK and Europe as well as easing tariffs from the US — we believe this is a defining moment to build a globally leading, AI-native textile innovation powerhouse from India.”
Regarding their investment in STCH, Mark Kahn, Managing Partner at Omnivore, noted “Narahari and Aseem bring rare depth — they understand both the materials science and the supply chain realities of getting sustainable textiles to market at scale. India has the raw materials, the mills, and now — with STCH — the AI-native platform to become the world’s leading source of sustainable textile innovation.”
The capital from the Pre–Series A funding round will be used to expand STCH’s AI capabilities, build a world-class fabric R&D laboratory, deepen mill partnerships across India, and accelerate delivery to global fashion brands navigating increasingly urgent sustainability procurement mandates.
