Bollywood star Deepika Padukone secured $7.5 million in seed funding in early 2022 for her skincare startup 82°E. In the first month, the company served consumers in over 30 countries globally and built capabilities to ship to over 200 countries.
WHO: Founded by Deepika Padukone and Jigar Shah, 82°E launched with the vision of creating a modern self-care brand born in India for the world. The brand launched two skincare products, Ashwagandha Bounce moisturizer and Patchouli Glow sunscreen drops, in November 2022.
Products are formulated internally using Indian ingredients by in-house R&D in the brand's laboratory. More skincare products are in the pipeline to be released over the next few months. All 82°E products are exclusively available on its D2C website.
WHY: 82°E utilized the capital to build its team, scale R&D, and launch new products.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Commenting on setting up 82°E, Deepika Padukone, co-founder, said, "Jigar and I envisioned this brand as an extension of my personal as well as professional journey. We set out to launch products which are high-quality, high-performing and an authentic reflection of my beliefs and practices. In this endeavour, we aim to make the practice of self-care simple, joyful and effective for all. With our launch category of skincare products, we have rigorously sourced, carefully crafted and clinically tested our products to achieve lasting results. I am honoured to have investors of global repute join us in our vision to establish 82°E as a modern self-care brand born in India for the world."
Co-founder Jigar Shah, who leads business while also leading the growth strategy, said, "While doing my research on celebrity brands, I observed that celebrity brands in India are still at an infancy stage. On the other hand, there are clear whitespaces and large consumer pain points that exist across different consumer categories. Hence, Deepika and I envisioned building a brand ground-up, that leverages her influence to help provide solutions to some of these pain points and deliver value to consumers and her fans across the globe. We are fortunate to have raised $7.5 million Seed Round at the ideation/pre-launch stage from revered global consumer investors such as DSGCP and IDEO Ventures among others who have believed in our vision and have guided us in our journey to build a truly scalable and a consumer-centric business."
On their investment in 82°E, Deepak I. Shahdadpuri, founder & Managing Director, DSG Consumer Partners, said, "Over the last decade, we've worked with consumer founders to build world-class enduring brands, and with 82°E we are excited to partner with this passionate, goal driven founder duo. We are highly impressed by Deepika and Jigar's uncompromising dedication and commitment to building 82°E brick by brick."
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