New Delhi, March 5 -- Young companies selling laboratory-grown diamonds are ramping up investments in building awareness and expanding product lines as growing adoption of the category in recent months has sparked optimism, industry executives toldMint.

Bengaluru-based Jewelbox has nearly doubled its marketing budget in the last year and now incurs nearly 20% of its online expenditure on awareness campaigns, its co-founder Nipun Kochar said.

"About a fifth of our online digital spends goes towards awareness campaigns. There's a mental block around lab-grown diamonds compared to mined diamonds, and brands need to put in resources to disseminate the right information," Kochar added.

Jewelbox's other co-founder-Vidita Kochar-routinely pos...