Indian e-commerce platform Purplle.com raised another $75 million in funding following $45 million in new capital closed in March.

WHO: Founded in 2012 by Rahul Dash and Manish Taneja, Purplle.com is a beauty platform selling nearly 50,000 products from over 1,000 brands as well as its own private label to an audience of 7 million monthly active users in India.

WHY: The new capital will fund expansion in the world's second-largest online market and fuel the company's goal to deliver 6-8x growth within the next five years. It will also fund investments in other beauty tech players.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Speaking on the investment, Manish Taneja, co-founder and CEO, Purplle.com, said, "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. 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 & Managing Partner at Kedaara, and Anant Gupta, Managing Director at Kedaara, added, "We are delighted to partner with Purplle. Led by an innovative, passionate, and strong execution-focused team, the company 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. 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."

DETAILS:

• Purplle raised $75 million, led by Kedaara, Sequoia Capital India, and Blume Ventures, bringing the total raised to $170 million to date.
• In March 2021, Purplle raised $45 million in a Series D. Sequoia Capital India joined existing investors Verlinvest, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures in funding the new round. According to TechCrunch, this round values the business at about $300 million, up from $150 million in its 2019 Series C round.
• In July 2020, Mint reported the business achieved total sales worth $50 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2019, and was targeting to achieve GMV sales worth $85-$100 million by the end of 2020.
• Purplle raised Series C funding at the end of 2019 from Goldman Sachs and Verlinvest. In a secondary exit deal in July 2020, two early angel investors secured a 40x return on their angel investment, offloading their stake to Goldman Sachs.
• Verlinvest made an $8 million investment in Purplle in January 2020, which funded ESOP redemptions.
• IndigoEdge was the sole advisor of the transaction.