Online beauty startup, Purplle, closes $140 mn; onboards Premji Invest as a new investor

Online beauty platform, Purplle.com, has raised a fresh tranche of $65 million led by new investor, Premji Invest. This investment comes weeks after a $75 million funding by Purplle from Kedaara Capital, alongside Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures. The infusion, according to the beauty startup, will accelerate the company’s growth towards building a multibillion-dollar company from India. The firm has thus announced the closure of its Series D $140 million funds-raise.

The company claims that within a year, it has grown its brand strength to over 1,000 with over 50,000 products across categories like make-up, skincare, haircare, personal care, fragrances, and grooming appliances. With a strong focus on new customer acquisition, the startup said that its marketing investments have grown by 2X to build brand Purplle. While doubling new customer acquisition, Purplle has very strong retention with 65-70 per cent of revenue coming from returning users. Elite, Purplle’s loyalty programme, contributes to 25 per cent of the platform’s revenue, according to an official statement.

 “We are very pleased to welcome Premji Invest to our cap table. The investment will leapfrog our efforts to offer women personalised beauty experiences, expand our wide range of innovative products, and drive penetration across the country. We plan to rapidly scale our private brands business and continue to build differentiated beauty brands with entrepreneurs. We will leverage exclusive Indian and international brand partnerships and fast-track acquisitions. Investments in content and community will be a key focus. We have nurtured some of the sharpest minds and will continue to build talent. With this strong year, we are well-positioned to build one of the largest beauty tech companies from India,” Manish Taneja, co-founder, and CEO, Purplle.com said.

Premji Invest is the investment arm of Azim Premji's endowment and philanthropic initiatives. Premji Invest has been active in investing in the Indian markets for over ten years with a large investment corpus. The focus of investments has been to grow medium-sized Indian companies into large companies that can compete globally. The fund has so far invested in companies including FabIndia, ID foods, Lenskart, Policybazaar, Flipkart, FirstCry, Best Value Chem and Shubham Housing.

“Democratising beauty will continue to be a dominant theme in India and customers today are looking for products that specifically cater to their skin and personal health and enhance their beauty,” Atul Gupta, Partner at Premji Invest, said.

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