Beauty platform Purplle.com raises $75 mn from Kedaara, Sequoia and Blume

Purplle.com, one of India’s largest online beauty destinations, has raised $75 million funding round from investment firm Kedaara along with Sequoia Capital India and Blume Ventures. This comes six months after a $45 million funding backed by Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, JSW Ventures, and first-time investor Sequoia Capital India. The investment will augment the company’s goal to deliver 6-8x growth in the next 5 years.  

“We are excited to partner with Kedaara, as they venture into the beauty e-commerce industry. Being one of the marquee investors in India, Kedaara’s rich experience across consumer and tech will empower us in our next phase of growth,” said Manish Taneja, co-founder and CEO, Purplle.com. “With this investment, we will strengthen our technological capabilities, deepen our talent pool, introduce new and innovative products and brands, invest in entrepreneurs building differentiated beauty offerings, and create a treasure chest for potential acquisitions.”  

Sunish Sharma, co-CEO and managing partner at Kedaara and Anant Gupta, managing director at Kedaara said that Purplle has demonstrated market-leading growth and continues to build a unique platform focused on the ethos of democratizing Beauty and Personal Care across India.

“We believe Purplle offers a unique value proposition and a superior customer experience and will continue to have strong tailwinds for a long time,” said Sharma and Gupta. “We are very excited with our new investment in the consumer-tech space and look forward to working closely with the Purplle team in helping them realize their vision.”

Purplle is on a robust growth trajectory, having grown its GMV (gross merchandise value) by 6x in the last 3 years. Even with a Covid year, the company delivered over 90 per cent GMV CAGR for the last 3 years. Growing with over 1300 employees across multiple functions, Purplle is one of the beauty industry’s largest employers.  

With a vision of creating a community-led platform with great quality and affordable products, the company will continue to forge strong and exclusive partnerships with both domestic and global brands. This investment will further strengthen Purplle’s position as it scales to build a global multibillion-dollar beauty company from India. IndigoEdge was the sole advisor of the transaction.

Founded in 2012, Purplle.com said it has about 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 funding is also expected to help Purplle compete with traditional players and online beauty platforms such as Nykaa, MyGlamm and Myntra. According to data platform Statista, India’s beauty and personal care (BPC) market, estimated at $25.9 billion in 2020, is projected to reach $32.7 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 per cent.