$33 M secured by online beauty retailer Purplle from Paramark Ventures, turns unicorn
Purplle, an online retailer of beauty and personal care items, has secured $33 million from Paramark Ventures for a $1.1 billion valuation.
Purplle, following online education firm PhysicsWallah, became the second Indian digital startup to reach the unicorn club — those privately-owned companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more – this week.
This comes at a time when the global startup ecosystem is experiencing a financing drought.
“My view is that if you’re a good company, if your unit economics is in place, you are good founders and if your corporate governance is top-notch then I don’t think that there is ever a funding winter,” co-founder and chief executive Manish Taneja told as per reports.
The round included existing investors Premji Invest, Blume Ventures, and Kedaara Capital. The firm has raised a total of $215 million, including the most recent round. Goldman Sachs and Verlinvest were among their prior investors.
During its most recent financing in November, Purplle was valued at $630 million.
“From the first quarter of FY22 to Q1 of FY23, our revenue has more than doubled. Also, the business has become more diversified. While online is obviously still the lion’s share of our revenue, offline is also now quite significant. I think that’s what’s probably led to us being able to command a valuation that is almost double of what it was in the last round,” Taneja said.
Taneja, Suyash Katyayani, and Rahul Dash launched the firm in 2012.
In FY22, the company’s annualised gross merchandise value (GMV) was $180 million.
Purplle stated that the monies will be used for marketing, advertising, and brand and technology enhancement.
