Online beauty retailer Purplle raises $45 m from Sequoia, existing investors

Online beauty retailer Purplle on Monday said it has closed a $45-million funding round backed by new investor Sequoia Capital India and existing backers Verlinvest, Blume Ventures and JSW Ventures.

The company will use the capital to fund its growth. The firm aims to “deliver eight-ten times growth in the next four to five years”, it said in a statement. The brand already claims to be witnessing a surge in overall volumes, transaction value, and an increase in users.

In December 2019, the company that competes with deep-pocketed players like Nykaa secured $30 million in funding from a clutch of investors led by Goldman Sachs.

“Even with a Covid year, we have delivered more than 90% GMV (gross merchandise value) CAGR for the last three years. This, while scaling our private brands successfully. The investment will help to shape Purplle into a multibillion-dollar, digital-first, beauty and personal care enterprise,” co-founder & CEO Manish Taneja said.

Sakshi Chopra, principal at Sequoia India, said Purplle has been able to build a business on high retention and low customer acquisition costs. Besides, it offers a wide assortment of brands at affordable prices and has been able to craft a decent private label portfolio mix. “We see Purplle emerging as a dominant beauty destination as the online beauty penetration grows from 10% to more than 25% over the next decade,” said Chopra.

Founded in 2012, Purplle claims to have seven million monthly active users.