| TheNFAPost Podcast |
Mumbai, NFAPost: Purplle.com, one of India’s largest online beauty destinations, raises $65Mn, bringing Premji Invest to the cap table. This investment comes weeks after a $75Mn funding, led by Kedaara Capital, alongside Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures. The infusion will accelerate the company’s growth to build a multibillion-dollar company from India.
Within the year, the company grew its brands to 1000+ 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 company grew its marketing investments by 2X to build brand Purplle. While doubling new customer acquisition, Purplle has very strong retention with 65-70% of revenue coming from returning users. Elite, Purplle’s loyalty programme, contributes to 25% of the platform’s revenue.
Speaking on the investment, Purplle.com Purple Cofounder and CEO Manish Taneja said the company is very pleased to welcome Premji Invest to its 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,” said Purplle.com Purple Cofounder and CEO Manish Taneja.
He also said the company 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 company from India,” said Purplle.com Purple Cofounder and CEO Manish Taneja.
Premji Invest supports the growth of India’s booming consumer, financials, technology, and manufacturing eco-system. Investments of Premji Invest are across sectors like consumer, financials, technology, and manufacturing and includes companies such as Fab India, ID foods, Lenskart, Policy Bazaar, Flipkart, First Cry, Best Value Chem and Shubham Housing.
On investing in Purplle, Premji Invest Partner Atul Gupta said Manish, Rahul and Suyash have built a very strong operating team with a customer-first approach.
“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. Purplle continues to build on that promise by integrating the requirements of the customer through careful analysis of customer usage data with unique and differentiated products and a great customer experience,”said Premji Invest Partner Atul Gupta.
Technology has been a significant growth driver and Purplle will continue to invest aggressively in advancements. This, through building customised beauty profiles, virtual try-ons and recommendations through virtual beauty advisors, enabling personalisation of the online beauty journey.
Since its launch in 2012, Purplle has built a community-led platform backed by great quality, affordable beauty products. It has grown its Gross Merchandising Value (GMV) by 6X in the last three years and is currently at Rs. 1200 Cr run rate. Purplle plans to deliver 6-8X growth in the next 5 years.
About Purplle.com
Founded in 2012, Purplle.com is one of India’s largest e-beauty destinations with 7 million monthly active users. The beauty e-tailer has over 1000+ brands with nearly 50,000 products, available on its website and app. The company investors include Kedaara, Premji Invest, Sequoia Capital India, Goldman Sachs, Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures.
Purplle has successfully scaled its digital-first beauty brands like Purplle, Good Vibes, NY Bae, amongst others. Good Vibes from this cohort has already become an INR 150 Cr brand and is one of the top 3 in the Naturals Skincare space on the app.
Purplle has built a differentiated, highly personalised digital shopping experience for consumers through its app by creating detailed user personas, enabling customers to test make-up, and recommending products based on personality, search keywords, and purchase behaviour. With over 1300 employees and growth of >90% GMV CAGR for the last 3 years, Purplle is well-positioned to be a leader in the burgeoning Indian e-beauty space.
About Premji Invest
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.
