Over the past decade, global banks have steadily withdrawn from diamond industry financing, creating a liquidity crisis that left thousands of retailers unable to fund inventory purchases. At the same time, customer demand for personalised and bespoke jewellery has soared. This dual shift placed smaller retailers in a difficult position: they needed access to diverse suppliers but lacked the capital to buy stock upfront.
Nivoda tackles this challenge head-on. The London- and New York–headquartered B2B marketplace connects over 10,000 retailers in 70+ countries with millions of diamonds and gemstones. With a new $60 million financing facility from i80 Group, the company now offers embedded trade credit, allowing jewellers to access flexible 30, 60, or 90-day payment terms, effectively removing the biggest barrier to growth.
In a discussion with TFN, Dave Sutton, CEO and co-founder of Nivoda, said, “Nivoda has raised $81 million in primary equity funding to date, including our most recent $35M funding round led by Northzone, which was announced last year.” However, he hasn’t disclosed the valuation.
Building the operating system for jewellery
Founded in 2017 by David Sutton and Andre Woons, Nivoda was born from first-hand industry frustrations. Sutton, a seasoned entrepreneur with 16+ years in jewellery, had already co-founded Taylor & Hart, one of the first digital-first custom jewellery retailers. Woons, an experienced engineer and designer, built the technical backbone of the platform. Together, they envisioned a system that simplifies sourcing, procurement, logistics, and now financing, all within a single platform.
Today, Nivoda hosts 2.5+ million diamonds and coloured gemstones, including exclusively certified WISE lab-grown diamonds. Retailers can source stones, reserve inventory, track shipments, manage invoices, and even access made-to-order jewellery manufacturing, all from one interface. This integrated model sets Nivoda apart from legacy players like RapNet, IDEX, and GemFind, which typically offer narrower solutions.
This vision has translated into rapid adoption. Since launch, Nivoda has achieved triple-digit year-on-year growth, delivering millions of diamonds and gemstones across 70+ countries, with fulfilment times ranging from hours to days.
Sutton went on to state, “At Nivoda, diversity is endemic in our business. We’re a remote company with employees in over 28 countries and we deliver to customers in 70+ markets around the world. Our leadership team is 50%-50% gender representation, 62% of whom are parents, representing Europe, Middle East, India, Australia, the UK and US. With dual UK-NY headquarters, we have hubs in nine major diamond centres around the world. Our largest hub in Mumbai holds 23% of total employees.”
The need for Nivoda
David has lived every side of the industry. He built a memo house from scratch. He scaled Taylor & Hart, one of the first digital-first custom retailers. And now, he’s building Nivoda: a global platform powering thousands of jewellery businesses. He built Nivoda from lessons learned the hard way: late nights, missed margins, products that didn’t convert, until he figured out how to make it work. And then scale it.
Nivoda was started because David was the customer. He believed that the industry deserved an operating system that supported retailers in their digital evolution. Because no-one was doing it, he saw it as necessary for him to. The platform makes the process of sourcing diamonds, gemstones and jewellery simpler, more efficient, and more profitable for jewelry businesses of all sizes.
Competitors and what sets it apart?
The diamond industry has long relied on marketplaces like Rapnet for pricing data and smaller players such as IDEX, Polygon, and GemFind for virtual inventory solutions. However, these platforms lack the comprehensive scope retailers need.
Nivoda sets itself apart by combining every critical function of the trade, inventory access, order management, logistics, manufacturing, certification, and embedded finance into one system. The platform now hosts more than 2.5 million diamonds and coloured gemstones, including exclusively certified WISE lab-grown diamonds, giving jewellers access to the world’s largest verified supply network.
Future plans
Nivoda is expanding well beyond diamonds. The company is extending its platform to cover gemstones, melee, and manufactured jewellery, while also launching subscription software services to help retailers merchandise and sell to consumers more effectively.
The newly secured $60M facility will offer retailers flexible payment terms, freeing up cash flow for inventory and bespoke production, both highly capital- and time-intensive. With this support, Nivoda plans to deepen its global reach, onboard more retailers, and strengthen its position as the jewellery trade’s all-in-one platform.
“Buying jewellery is the ultimate anti-Amazon experience: a highly collaborative process where the customer’s journey to find and fall in love with their piece is just as important as the piece’s final destination. As the industry evolves toward personalisation, a tailwind for smaller, more bespoke jewellers, the headwinds from accessing the supply chain are going to grow,” said David Sutton, CEO and Founder of Nivoda. “While traditional lenders have reduced their exposure to the diamond trade, this financing agreement allows us to work with an institutional lender in i80 who has taken a more dynamic approach, aligning financing with real trading flows and buyer engagement.”
“By connecting retailers and suppliers on a truly global scale, Nivoda has redefined how the diamond and gemstone trade operates,” said Edward Goldstein, Managing Director with i80 Group. “We’re proud to provide financing that reflects marketplace realities, helping Nivoda and its partners expand responsibly and efficiently.”
