Co-founder
Shreya Jaunjal
Taking Velvet Tips from a press-on nail brand towards automated, personalised nail art for India.
Pre-seed round · ₹20 lakh
Personalised nail art.On demand.
Velvet Tips is building a new retail format for nail beauty: a premium self-service nail station that prints bespoke press-on sets in minutes. Two founders, a working brand and a prototype round to close.
Until we close the round, we are building at shop.velvettips.com.
Right now
While we raise, we keep building the brand and our press-on nail collections at the Velvet Tips shop.
Our journey
Two founders, one idea, built in public view
Velvet Tips began as a press-on nail brand. Every step since has been a test of one question: will people pay for nail art that is fast, personal and beautiful?
Co-founder
Lokesh Kabra
Taking Velvet Tips from live on-ground activations towards the first automated nail station.
Step 01
A press-on nail brand
We started with the product itself: premium press-on nails, sold through our own shop at shop.velvettips.com and designed to feel like fashion, not a commodity.
Step 02
Creators and Instagram
We worked with many influencers to bring Velvet Tips to their audiences, and learned what people want to wear before we built anything else.
Step 03
Live machine nail art in Pune
We ran live, on-ground machine nail art for half a month at Cafe Hippie at Heart on Balewadi High Street. Real customers, real queues, real feedback.
Step 04
Mia by Tanishq activations
Two days of brand activation for Mia by Tanishq, at Phoenix Mall in Viman Nagar and at Western Mall in Aundh.
Step 05 · Now
The prototype round
Now we are raising ₹20 lakh to build and validate the first Velvet Tips automated nail station, and take it to its first paying customers.
The vision
A new retail format for nail beauty
Nail art has become visual, personal and social, yet the offline experience is still limited by time, technician availability and store capacity. We flip the model from technician-led service to self-serve, software-led beauty retail.
01
Discover
Trend-led and AI-assisted designs that feel like fashion.
02
Create
Automated personalisation turns a kiosk into a mini nail studio.
03
Pay
UPI-native checkout makes truly unattended retail possible.
04
Repeat
Consumables, designs and memberships create recurring revenue.
The customer journey
- 01Discover
- 02Personalise
- 03Pay
- 04Produce
- 05Wear
One touchpoint, four revenue streams
- B2C
Kiosk transactions
₹399 to ₹999 target ticket. The core consumer revenue.
- B2B
Partner locations
Revenue share, lease or machine sale across malls, salons, hotels and airports.
- Recurring
Consumables
Tips, ink and finishing products. High-margin replenishment.
- Software
Velvet Cloud
Analytics, CRM and content, per machine or per network.
Why now
55.49 crore
UPI users onboarded by June 2026, a native layer for unattended checkout.
₹599
Target blended ticket for a personalised set.
6 a day
Pilot hurdle rate per high-footfall location.
Source: PIB and NPCI UPI facts, July 2026. Targets are management assumptions, not historical results.
The work
Let the work be the hero
A selection of the nail art that started it all. This is the standard the machine has to meet.
The raise
₹20 lakh to build and prove the first station
We are seeking a pre-seed round to build and validate the first Velvet Tips prototype. The round should buy a working machine, first paying customers, repeat usage and the evidence for the next raise.
- Prototype hardware₹8L · 40%
Printer, electronics, dispensing, enclosure and integrated payment hardware.
- Software and AI₹4L · 20%
AI design engine, kiosk experience, cloud dashboard and transaction layer.
- Prototype design₹3L · 15%
Industrial design, enclosure refinement, UX and brand application.
- Pilot launch₹2L · 10%
Installation, first location set-up, customer testing and launch activation.
- Testing and compliance₹2L · 10%
Safety, reliability, electrical testing and operational validation.
- Contingency₹1L · 5%
Prototype revisions, tooling changes and a working-capital buffer.
Pilot unit economics
A deliberately conservative model to validate in 90 to 120 days.
- ₹599
- Blended ticket
- 6
- Transactions a day
- ₹1.08L
- Monthly GTV
- ₹41K
- Monthly contribution
Target unlock for the next step-up: 6 transactions a day, 25% repeat rate and 95% uptime.
Illustrative management assumptions, not historical results.
The next twelve months
0 to 3 months
Build
Prototype, payments, content library, packaging and operating procedures.
3 to 6 months
Pilot
10 to 20 locations. Measure repeat use, uptime and average order value.
6 to 9 months
Optimise
Refine the design engine, kiosk experience, pricing and location economics.
9 to 12 months
Scale
50 or more placements, anchor partners, and a prepared institutional seed round.
Invest
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