Online beauty marketplace, Purplle, on Monday said that it has raised $45 million in funding from new investor Sequoia Capital India, with existing investors Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures also participating as a part of the round.
As a part of the transaction, Purplle’s early backer Ivy Cap Ventures has seen a partial exit, making a 22X return of ₹330 crore against ₹15 crore of initial investment, the company said. IvyCap Ventures had invested in Purplle, as a part of its Series A funding back in 2015.
According to the company, the investment is expected to boost the startup’s growth, as it looks to grow by almost 10-times in the next 4-5 years.
“We are excited to partner with Sequoia Capital India, as they foray into the online beauty industry. Reinvestment from Verlinvest, JSW Ventures, and Blume Ventures, is a testament to the conviction of our investors. Purplle has been on a robust growth trajectory. Even with a covid-year, we have delivered more than 90% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in gross merchandise value (GMV) for the last three years,” said Manish Taneja, co-founder and chief executive of Purplle.
Purplle sells makeup products and fashion accessories, as well as wellness products for men and women on its website.
According to Taneja, Purplle has also scaled its private brands, during the pandemic, including Good Vibes, which has already done ₹150 crores, in revenues.
“We are seeing a growing trend towards the gentrification of e-commerce in India. Consumers are making a clear distinction between distribution platforms and brands that are more relevant to them. We are excited to partner with Purplle as we believe they have cracked the beauty playbook built on high retention and low customer acquisition cost (CAC), wide assortment of brands and an attractive private label portfolio mix,” said Sakshi Chopra, principal, Sequoia India.
Last year, Mint reported that angel investors in Purplle and former Fidelity Investments executives, Abhinav Sinha and Anirudha Gopalakrishnan had secured a 40X return, after they sold their stakes to Goldman Sachs in a secondary exit deal.
Sinha made ₹10 crore after selling his shares to Goldman Sachs, while Gopalakrishnan secured ₹8 crore on his secondary exit, Mint said citing sources.
“We have invested in Purplle.com from our Fund 1 and Fund 2. When we first invested in Purplle in 2015, we were confident that digital would disrupt and redefine the beauty industry in India. With an initial investment of ₹15 crore from our Fund 1 growing by manifolds to ₹330 crore, our partnership has been rewarding. We continue to believe in the growth of the company and therefore we have retained our stake for Fund 2,” said Vikram Gupta, founder & managing partner at IvyCap Ventures.
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