Beauty brand Plum raises Rs 270 cr in Series C round led by A91 Partners

Plum, a leading beauty brand, has raised $35 million (Rs 270 crore) in a Series C round led by A91 Partners – a leading late stage-focused venture capital fund. The firm said it is 100 per cent vegan, cruelty-free and toxin-free beauty brand. The funding round also saw participation from existing investors Unilever Ventures and Faering Capital. To date, Plum has raised over $50 million from consumer-focused institutional investors, which portends its future growth as the category leader in the new-age, D2C beauty space. Pursuant to the transaction, Abhay Pandey from A91 Partners will join the board of Plum.

“A91 Partners are passionate cheerleaders of the Indian consumer story, and we are delighted to have them join us on our quest to build scale with a difference,” said Shankar Prasad, CEO and founder, Plum. “The A91 team’s track record of picking winning consumer brands and partnering with them on their growth journeys is impressive.”

The fresh capital is expected to add momentum to Plum’s gameplan of further strengthening its omni-channel presence, building new categories in addition to its core skincare category, and enhancing R&D capabilities. It would also onboard high-quality talent with a focus on investments in marketing and technology. The brand today has wide acceptance across channels and categories - skin, hair, body, men’s care, and now makeup, reinforcing its potential for dominance in a rapidly growing market for clean beauty products. At a current ARR of Rs 225 crores on a net revenue basis, Plum’s goal is to double that number over the next 12 months.

“Equally gratifying is the re-affirmation of confidence from both our existing investors, Unilever Ventures and Faering Capital – both strong backers of consumer businesses,” said Prasad. “The latest investment will help us accelerate on our exciting growth path, not only in our core skincare category, but also in adjacent large categories like hair care, makeup, body care and specialist care for men. In doing so, we want to bring alive our brand ethos of ‘being good’ in as many different and delightful ways as possible.”

Plum was started in 2013 by Prasad, an IIT-ISB-Unilever alum. Since its first funding round in late 2018, Plum has grown 15x, driven by a strong leadership and investor team focused on building value for - People, the Planet, and Profit-sharing participants. It continues to be one of the fastest-growing brands in the new-age beauty space. The firm said this is due to its high-quality product lines, lovable brand personality and strong omni-channel presence. Not only is it among the top brands on key e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, and Purplle, but the brand also is today available in over 250 towns and cities in India. This is through nearly 1,000 assisted retail outlets, and over 10,000 unassisted outlets – growing month-on-month. Recently, the brand roped in actress Mithila Palkar as a brand ambassador.

“Plum’s relentless focus on product and brand in a noisy space of new-age consumer brands positions it uniquely to build an enduring business and A91 is privileged to be a partner in this journey,” said Abhay Pandey, general partner, A91 Partners.

Sameer Shroff, co-founder and managing Partner at Faering Capital, said that since the venture capital firm’s initial investment over a year ago, Plum has demonstrated strong growth across all its categories, channels, and most importantly its loyal customer base. “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership as Shankar and team build one of the best clean-beauty brands in the country,” said Shroff.