MUMBAI : Bengaluru-based Plaeto, a D2C footwear brand for children, has raised Rs40 crore in a Series A round of funding led by former Blackstone India private equity co-head Mathew Cyriac’s Florintree Advisors and other investors. Plaeto, which designs and delivers high-quality footwear, was founded in March 2020 by Ravi Kallayil, Sara Kilgore, and Pavan Kareti. TRENDING STORIES See All Premium Board of AMC stock fixes record date for 2:3 bonus shar . . . Premium This industrial stock fixes record date for 525% divide . . . Premium Presidential polls: Droupadi Murmu, Yashwant Sinha gear . . . Premium Telangana CM KCR suspects ‘foreign hand’ behind cloudbu . . . Funds from the latest round will be deployed to accelerate the company’s strategic expansion to newer markets and product innovation and to leverage technology to deepen its consumer-first approach. Plaeto has designed a host of proprietary elements for children’s growing feet. These include FitSystem, which contains a proprietary Fitliner that gives an additional size from the same product, without compromising on fit, comfort and performance; Plaeto365, a midsole that is responsive, supportive, and comfortable even after a year of usage and Plaeto FitWiz, which leverages technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to recommend the best fit for every child. “As a technology driven D2C footwear brand, we have always focused on science-based shoes and innovation that meets the Indian requirement. While innovations have happened across the board including footwear, children’s footwear, as a category, has remained untouched, without any consumer-centric design or performance built into it," said Kallayil, chief executive officer of Plaeto, who worked at Nike Innovation before starting the company. The startup now works with some leading schools and educational institutes through its B2B2C channel, and all top marketplaces such as Amazon, Myntra, and Flipkart. Its consumer-facing D2C paltform www. plaeto. in has also been witnessing strong growth since its launch in September 2021, Kallayil said. “The company is seeing a high level of interest from schools and from online channels. We are seeing double digital growth month-on-month online. We would like to serve five million consumers in the next five years," Kallayil said. MINT PREMIUM See All Premium What monkeypox alarm tells us about global health inequ . . . Premium The insufferable fuss over Rishi Sunak’s Indian roots Premium Why you might see fewer ed-tech ads on TV Premium Bill likely to make use of clean energy compulsory “We already have offline distribution to serve the school market. We have received strong interest from a few of the largest offline players in the Indian market and we are working through that. Our goal is to have an even split between the offline and online parts of our business in the next five years," he said. Catch all the Corporate news and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News . More Less Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. First article Close.