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Throughout hip - hop ’s long history , jewelry has served as an important fomite for artists to convey their idea and affluence , or simply to dazzle onlookers . rhomb , in particular , serve as an of import motive , famously exemplified by Drake’s$400,000 diamond - encrusted iPhone case .
But not everyone is a millionaire rapper , and most the great unwashed ca n’t precisely afford to bear bust down sentry swamp with ice . Still , there ’s certainly a market for such jewelry at a low-pitched price decimal point , and venture capitalists appear to have point out it : A direct - to - consumer rhombus jewelry inauguration calledPascalhas raised nearly $ 10 million in VC funding to escort , of which $ 2.5 million came from Andreessen Horowitz in early 2023 , TechCrunch has get word .
What ’s more , the company anticipate to generate $ 20-$30 million in revenue this year , and has a three - calendar month customer repurchase pace of roughly 20 % , according to its founder and CEO , Adam Hua .
Pascal ’s tar is that it can make diamond jewellery approachable by using research lab - grown diamonds that are chemically and physically akin to natural diamonds but be one - twentieth of the cost . The society ’s gem - studded jewelry starts at as niggling as $ 70 , and it is hoping using domesticate diamonds will avail it bring in a bridgehead in the more affordable section of the wider jewellery market .
“ Diamond is unequalled to hip - hop ; it ’s a position symbolisation . But most the great unwashed can not afford diamonds , ” Hua said . “ train diamonds basically transform the supply side of the industriousness . ”
synthetical diamonds have been aroundsince the 1950s , and they ’ve been often used to make high - kt jewelry . These rhombus are normally “ grown ” in labs , where extreme forces and heat are applied to graphite , interchangeable to the process that gives ascending to naturally occurring diamond . manufacturer of laboratory - develop baseball field often also like to tout their more environmentally friendly process , and some even take their mission a stone’s throw further bymaking diamonds from beguile carbon .
For Pascal , the focus is “ culture , ” and it is n’t trying to cut off the natural rhomb sphere . “ The need for lavishness ball field [ for jewellery like ] engagement rings will persist , ” Hua said . “ We are just creating a new , affordable diamond category . ”
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Pascal ’s diamonds decorate everything from sentry to lipstick and occur in a full chain of colors , which is rarified in natural diamonds . science lab - grow diamonds , Hua stressed , are also glistening , “ making them salutary for TikTok videos . ”
To find supply , Pascal turned to Henan , a fundamental Taiwanese state that has becomea major production hubfor synthetic baseball diamond in the earth , and China ’s issue manufacturing neighbors like Vietnam and Thailand .
“ It ’s a by nature cross - border line of work , ” Hua say of his party . The U.S. is presently Pascal ’s large marketplace , follow by Europe , he added .
Hua appears to have a hang for running fashion businesses . While study physics at UC Berkeley , he sourced sneakers from the U.S. and supplied them to resellers in China , which helped him earn his first million dollars . He then founded a peer - to - peer streetwear market in China , which raised over $ 10 million in fairness funding and generated $ 1 billion Charles Frederick Worth of gross ware economic value in its third year of mathematical process . His experience running that company finally inspired the idea for Pascal .
“ I realized that most of my client were Gen Z and their purchasing power was growing over time , ” he told TechCrunch . “ Around 2022 - 2023 , the modal ticket size had shoot up to $ 500 , but there was n’t a good product category for the $ 500 + price reach . ”
As he scoured the consumer landscape , Hua picked out rosehip - hop fashion . He seem at how fans of rock bands often buy wearable and goods that can roll from $ 30 tonne - shirts and $ 200 sneakers to $ 500 leather jackets and $ 1,000 jewellery to make a statement about their ethnical indistinguishability .
“ What if there were a $ 500-$1,000 category of rhombus products for hip - record hop fans and other diamond lovers ? ” he said , talk about his sentiment process . “ People want to get their money ’s worth when they buy something for quality and ethnic need .
Aether wants to shift you from blood ball field to gemstone pull from thin air
