India, July 13 -- D2C footwear startup BUILT has raised $2 Mn (about Rs.17 Cr) in a pre-seed funding round from Singapore-based VC firm Tanglin Venture Partners to expand what it calls India's 'natural movement' footwear category.

The recently launched startup plans to use the capital to invest in R&D, proprietary tooling, product design, and manufacturing capabilities, including developing custom footwear molds. The startup will also deploy the capital towards inventory expansion as it scales production.

Founded by Vedant Lamba and Vijayant Dhaka earlier this year, BUILT is betting on the natural movement category, which promotes footwear with wider toe boxes, minimal heel drop and greater flexibility to encourage more natural foot mov...