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Starting from clothes to medicines, everything is within our reach with just a few clicks now in the digital era that we are living in. The same goes for skincare and haircare products, cosmetics, and fragrances.
The skincare, haircare, cosmetics, beauty products, and the markets for all of them are growing at breakneck speeds. Thus, more and more companies are taking a dive into the beauty industry with their unique offerings. Purplle is one such example of an e-commerce beauty brand that is growing in its unique rapidly rising to compete with the bigger players in the industry.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Purplle is an Indian multi-brand beauty retailer selling cosmetic and wellness products.
With the help of its online store and an ever-growing list of cosmetics, fragrances, skin, and hair care products, Purplle is fast becoming a favorite. It gives an online space to beauty and wellness needs that showcase beauty brands and products. Purplle aims to take the shopping experience to a different level.
Here we bring you the success story of Purplle, where you can learn about the Brand, Founder and History, Mission, Vision, Team, Business Model, Competitors, Challenges, Future Plans, and more.
Purplle - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Purplle.com |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Industry | Online shopping, Cosmetics |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founders | Manish Taneja and Rahul Dash |
| CEO | Manish Taneja |
| Area Served | India |
| Valued at | $500 million (October 2021) |
| Revenue | $16.97 mn (Rs 128 crore in FY21) |
| Funding Raised | $168.6 mn (November 2021) |
| Website | www.purplle.com |
Purplle - About and How it Works?
Purplle - Industry
Purplle - Founders and Team
Purplle - Startup Story
Purplle - Mission and Vision
Purplle - Name, Tagline and Logo
Purplle - Business Model
Purplle - Revenue Model
Purplle - Growth and Revenue
Purplle - Funding and Investors
Purplle - Acquisitions
Purplle - Competitors
Purplle - Challenges Faced
Purplle - Future Plans
Purplle - About and How it Works?
Purplle is an operator of an online beauty shopping store created to buy skincare products based on people's hair and skin type and other personal choices.
It is an online portal with a large collection of cosmetics, skincare, haircare & fragrances. It showcases some of the best products from the leading brands in the world at the best prices. Purplle aims to take the users' shopping experience to a completely different level by enabling the consumers to have a personalized shopping experience taking skin and hair type into account. They also have a brilliant customer service department that can be accessed via their customer care number.
Purplle.com has a large assortment of products across over 650 brands with 50,000+ SKUs and 300+ beauty-specific sellers. Purplle provides all warehousing and logistics services to sellers to ensure that the quality of products and the delivery of them are well-maintained.
Besides, Purplle also has a tie-up with over 6,000 salons with detailed pricing information on the platform for customers to make a choice for the right service.
There are three major categories around which Purplle has built its website. The first is the Beauty Product Marketplace where products catering to make-up, skincare, haircare, etc., are listed. The second is the Salon Booking Marketplace where they list and accept bookings for salons and spas near you. The third is Purplle Salons, which is their chain of Premium Economy Salons, through which they aim to create a great salon experience for customers.
Purplle - Industry
India has seen quite a growth in the personal care and cosmetics space. This can be pointed out due to the improved quality of life in India to the point that the estimated growth of the sector was 9.7% between 2018-2023, before the pandemic. However, this growth has certainly been slowed since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
It was noticed that growth happened at a rate of 2.3% between 2019-2020, which helped the industry achieve a market value of a little over $15 billion in December 2020. The forecast for growth was 2020-2021 is 1.7%. However, it is deemed to improve from 2022 onwards, when the revenues are expected to increase by +2.8%.
Purplle - Founders and Team
Purplle is founded by Manish Taneja (Co-founder and CEO), Rahul Dash(Co-founder and COO), and Suyash Katyayani(Co-founder and CTO), in 2012.
Manish Taneja
Manish is an IIT Delhi alumni, who completed his Bachelor's and Masters in Electrical Engineering from Delhi IIT. Taneja then went to the CFA Institute, where he completed Level 3, Finance. The Co-founder and CEO of Purplle started as an Intern at Ittiam Systems. He then worked as an Analyst at Lehman Brothers; an Analyst and Associate at Avendus Capital, and eventually as an Analyst - Private Equity at Fidelity Growth Partners India. Manish Taneja finally decided to found his own beauty firm, Purplle.
Rahul Dash
Rahul Dash is the Co-founder and COO of Purplle, who previously worked as a Senior Manager - Strategy and Business Development at the Tata Power Company. Furthermore, he was also appointed as a TAS Manager at Tata Chemicals Ltd after serving as a TAS Manager at Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. and Tata Motors. Rahul was a Mechanical Engineering student at IIT KGP, who completed his Bachelor's degree from Kharagpur IIT. Dash then went on to obtain a PGDM in General Management from IIM Ahmedabad.
Suyash Katyayani
Suyash Katyayani is known as the Co-founder cum CTO of the brand. Katyayani had been a student of DPS Bhilai and is also an alumnus of Kharagpur IIT, from where he completed his BTech. in Chemical Engineering. Suyash had earlier co-founded VidyaCenter, which makes Purplle his second attempt at entrepreneurship. Katyayani started his career as a Software Engineer at OnMobile.
Pooja Acharya holds another key designation of Purplle, who works as the Chief Beauty Officer of the company.
The Purplle team is currently 800+ strong.
Purplle - Startup Story
The foundation of Purplle can be described as a pure business call to enter the beauty segment. The beauty, personal care, and cosmetics sector isn't something that leaves much room for customization in contrast to the furniture and home decor space. On the other hand, when it comes to getting electronics, footwear, furniture, and apparel online, most of the customers already have a certain comfort level with the horizontal marketplaces and mostly tend to land on eCommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.
The founding trio was all set to establish a business but debated a while between furniture and fashion. However, while furniture needed a comparatively higher initial investment, fashion was a segment, which had players like Myntra and Jabong who had a great, early start, and were emerging to be quite competent. This was how Purplle started.
Purplle began as an online retailer in December 2011 and opened its first physical retail store at Phoenix Market City Kurla, Mumbai in January 2017.
The company retails products for skincare, make-up, haircare, body care, and beauty appliances from across more than 600 Indian and international brands. It showcases some of the best products from the leading brands in the world. Purplle aims to raise the bars of the users' shopping experience.
Purplle - Mission and Vision
Purplle's mission statement says, "Purplle gives an online space to your beauty and wellness needs. We showcase some of the best products from the leading brands in the world. It aims to take your shopping experience to a completely different level. We know shopping infuses an incomparable high."
The vision of the company is to grow as one of the most popular brands in the cosmetics and beauty industry as an online retailer.
Purplle - Name, Tagline, and Logo
The Purplle logo is in purple, signifying the name and the taste of modern women. The company offers cosmetics, fragrances, skin, and hair care products at the best available prices, and thereby, is loved by women and girls all around.
Purplle has selected its tagline to be India's#1 Beauty Destination .
Purplle - Business Model
Purplle started its journey as a D2C beauty products retailer brandishing its eCommerce website and app in 2011. The company, much like other market leaders including Flipkart, Amazon, Nykaa, etc., has also forayed into the private label space. Purplle entered the private label space by subsuming the in-house brand StayQuirky, which was launched in 2015.
Purplle - Revenue Model
Purplle is a beauty and cosmetics D2C eCommerce brand that derives its revenues mainly from product commissions and marketplace fees. Furthermore, a major chunk of its revenues also come from the advertisements on its app as well as on the website.
Purplle - Growth and Revenue
The last two years have been really good for Purplle except for the days of the pandemic, where things really looked haywire but that was for a few months. Purplle is currently growing at around 80% y-o-y, as updated in October 2021.
"We are right now at Rs 100 crore of monthly gross merchandise value (GMV) and this is an all-time high", remarked Taneja.
Some more growth highlights of the company are:
- The net sales of Purplle clock around Rs 65 crore a month.
- Purplle has 7 million monthly active users who sell 50,000+ products from more than 1,000 brands on its website and app.
- The company has witnessed around 90% growth year-on-year.
The Purplle operating revenue grew from Rs 91.4 cr in FY20 to Rs 128.2 cr during FY21.
Purplle Financials Breakdown
| Purplle Financials | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Revenue | INR 128.15 cr | INR 91.4 cr |
| Total Expenses | INR 191.1 cr | INR 123.1 cr |
| Profit/Loss | Loss of INR 52.19 cr | Loss of INR 24.39 cr |
| EBITDA Margin | -19.80% | -31.37% |
Purplle Revenue Breakdown
| Purplle Revenue Verticals | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Sale of Products | INR 8.20 cr | INR 13.32 cr |
| Advertising and Visibility Services | INR 79.02 cr | INR 52.06 cr |
| Royalty Income | INR 39.04 cr | INR 24.25 cr |
| Membership | INR 1.28 cr | INR 0.51 cr |
| Miscellaneous Operating Income | INR 0.06 cr | INR 1.25 cr |
Purplle Expenses Breakdown
| Purplle Expense Verticals | FY21 | FY20 |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement and Promotion Cost | INR 56.31 cr | INR 36.51 cr |
| Rent and Utility Cost | INR 3.42 cr | INR 0.98 cr |
| Legal and Professional Charges | INR 13.40 cr | INR 10.35 cr |
| Others | INR 24.22 cr | INR 17.30 cr |
| Employee Benefit Expenses | INR 36.9 cr | INR 19 cr |
| Logistics and Packaging Costs | INR 52.4 cr | INR 31.2 cr |
| Purchase of stock in trade | INR 4.46 cr | INR 7.74 cr |
Purplle - Funding and Investors
Purplle has raised a total of $168.6M in funding. The latest funding round, Series E, for Purplle, came on October 29, 2021, where the company successfully raised $75 million led by Kedaara Capital. This is the second funding round that the women-focused beauty startup has witnessed in 2021. The company is all set to raise $49 mn more from the family office of Azim Premji, Wipro Founder Chairman. Purplle has announced that it would be allotting around 8,263 Series D compulsory convertible preference shares to PI Opportunities Fund I scheme of Premji Invest for Rs 328 crore for 8.43% stake in the company. Purplle has last been valued at $500 mn in October 2021.
Goldman Sachs has acquired Rs 60 crore worth of stakes of Purplle in a secondary buyout on July 4, 2020. This also includes the shares of the Former Fidelity executives Abhinav Sinha and Anirudh Gopalkrishnan, who have exited the company in 2020 with a 40x return.
Purplle is currently funded by around 15 investors, where Spring Marketing Capital and Verlinvest are the most recent investors.
| Date | Round | Money | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 29, 2021 | Series E | $75M | Kedaara Capital |
| Mar 22, 2021 | Series D | $45M | Sequoia Capital India, Verlinvest |
| Nov 23, 2020 | Venture Round | $1M | Spring Marketing Capital |
| Jan 13, 2020 | Series C | $8M | Verlinvest |
| Dec 12, 2019 | Series C | $30M | Goldman Sachs |
| Jun 20, 2018 | Venture Round | $2.33M | - |
| Dec 15, 2017 | Series C | $459K | Mountain Pine Capital, Suncoast Investments |
| Jul 11, 2016 | Series B | $6M | JSW Ventures |
| Jan 5, 2015 | Venture Round | - | IvyCap Ventures |
| May 2, 2014 | Angel Round | $541.2K | - |
| Aug 26, 2013 | Series A | - | - |
Purplle - Acquisitions
Purplle acquired FACES CANADA on December 18, 2021. This is the first major acquisition of the Mumbai-based beauty products marketplace. After the acquisition, the latter is to operate independently and expand its portfolio.
Purplle - Competitors
The top competitors of Purplle today are:
Rishabh Rathi
Purplle - Challenges Faced
Speaking on the days when Purplle was started, Manish recalled that in 2011 there were only a few brands that targeted the online space for the cosmetics and beauty products in the country. Beauty stores were quite less than it is now, and B2B transactions were done only by the salons. The co-founders claimed that they started their company, Purplle with about Rs 40 lakhs from their personal savings.
Purplle has seen its fair share of successes and failures since its inception. Manish Taneja and his co-founder, Rahul Dash, along with CTO Suyash Katyanani, however, believed in only one philosophy which is:
“Customers have to be the centre point of the conversation and sale. And the aim of a beauty ecommerce portal should be to provide solutions for their needs. A hard sell based on discounts is a big no."
Purplle - Future Plans
Purplle hopes that social media will influence India’s middle-class to get more into beauty products, along with the increase of the purchasing power of millennials. The company further says that with AI in the market, it won’t be long before e-commerce platforms became significant sources of people’s cosmetic products.
"We want to focus on Purplle Salon for bringing the best salon experience to our customers. Our next step would be to bring international brands to India and introduce our own brands in the market." said the CEO and co-founder of Purplle, Manish Taneja.
FAQs
Is Purplle is an Indian company?
Yes, Purplle is an Indian company.
What is Purplle?
Purplle, an online store, sells cosmetics, fragrances, skin, and haircare products.
Who is the CEO of Purplle?
Manish Taneja is the current CEO of Purplle.
Are products on Purplle genuine?
Purplle claims that it has products which are 100% genuine.
Who founded Purplle?
Purplle is founded by Manish Taneja and Rahul Dash.
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ Author :- Anik Banerjee Date :-April 05, 2022 at 12:19PM