Beauty Startup Purplle Seals Series F Round, Bags $180 Mn (Rs 1,500 Cr) Funding

Purplle, an omnichannel beauty platform, has closed its Series F fundraising round for Rs 1,500 crore (roughly $180 million). This round was led by an Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) subsidiary and included major contributions from existing investors, notably Premji Invest and Blume Ventures, both of which raised their stake.

This round also attracted new investors, including Sharrp Ventures.

Purplle received its first tranche of finance in July, totaling Rs 1,000 crore (about $120 million). According to insiders, the fresh round valued Manish Taneja’s company between $1.2-1.3 billion. In June 2022, it raised $33 million in its Series E round from South Korea’s Paramark Ventures, making it a unicorn with a valuation of $1.1 billion.

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This fundraising round will help Purplle achieve its aim of making beauty accessible to everyone. The company intends to use technology to improve how consumers discover and purchase beauty products and services, broadening its reach to a larger audience, according to a press statement.

Purplle, founded in 2012, operates on two models: a marketplace and its own brands, which include Faces Canada, Good Vibes, Alps Goodness, Carmesi, and DermDoc. Its web platform touches over 10 million consumers each month, with an additional 20,000 offline touchpoints.

Purplle’s revenue increased to Rs 680 crore in FY24, while losses fell by 46% to Rs 124 crore from Rs 230 crore in FY23 due to scaled expansion and cost reduction measures, particularly in advertising.

Purplle declared cash and bank balances of Rs 109 crore in March 2024. Entrackr estimated the company’s enterprise value to revenue multiple at 15.8x.

In the last year, Purplle has also rewarded employees with a $6 million ESOP repurchase and given an exit to JSW Ventures through the sale of secondary shares.