Duke Alums team up for Superhero Startup

Jaineel Aga, MEMP '09, and Sumit Shah, Fuqua '12, have teamed up to create a superhero merchandising startup that has raised about $500,000 in its Pre-Series A Funding round.

The alumni, along with University of Oxford graduate Karan Rai, founded Planet Superheroes in 2013 as a licensed merchandising site dedicated to official superhero, comic, and TV show characters from Marvel, Warner Bros, Fox, Universal, and Cartoon Network. The funding will allow the company to expand its product portfolio, further build its distribution network, and widen its presence through online and offline channels.

"The global retail merchandise market is a $50 billion opportunity, and we haven't even begun to scratch the surface here. We will be expanding online as well through traditional retail channels, going forward," said Aga, who was previously with Baring Private Equity Asia.

"It's good to be putting those engineering management skills of Supply Chain in practice," Aga continued. "You won't believe it, but I do rigorously implement the "Stop, Start, Continue" framework."

Read more in the Economic Times of India.