Rupali.Mukherjee@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has bought out key angel investors in JSW Ventures-backed Purplle, a beauty products e-tailer, in a Rs 60-crore transaction that closed recently. The secondary transaction, which values the company at Rs 1,100 crore, also includes a small component of ESOPs offloaded by a clutch of ex-employees, sources close to the development told TOI.
Goldman Sachs is an existing investor in the online beauty platform, having led the firm’s series-C fund-raise in January by investing $30 million. With a GMV (gross merchandise value) of $50 million, the firm also attracted $8 million from Belgium-based family investment firm Verlinvest, taking the overall funding to nearly $50 million.
Abhinav Sinha and Anirudha Gopalakrishnan (former Fidelity executives) offloaded their holding in Purplle, mopping up a 40x return on their investment of eight years. Further, a clutch of ex-employees and employees sold their ESOPs to Verlinvest, for a combined value of Rs 12 crore recently. When contacted, Purplle founder and CEO Manish Taneja told TOI, “As Purplle is looking to create a multi-billion dollar digital-first beauty company over the next 7-10 years, a lot of wealth would be distributed to everyone in the organisation. The current ESOP sale by the employees is a small step in the same direction.”
Launched in 2012, Purplle turned cash-profitable in 2018 and expects to achieve a doubling of GMV to $100 million in FY21, with skincare spends showing an uptick. It does not expect much of an impact from Covid-19, while the share of tier-2 towns in revenue is expected to grow in the coming months as most metros are affected by Covid-related restrictions.
JSW Ventures managing partner & CEO Gaurav Sachdeva said, “Purplle has a strong playbook for capital-efficient growth that focuses on the creation of differentiated supply and customer experiences.”
Taneja, along with co-founders Rahul Dash and Suyash Katyayani, together hold 23% in Purplle, while the rest is held by five institutional investors. Besides Goldman Sachs and Verlinvest, other investors in the beauty e-tailer include IvyCap Ventures, JSW Ventures and early investor Blume Ventures.
Goldman Sachs MD Niladri Mukhopadhyay said, “The successful combination of best-in-class technology with their (Purplle) own innovative brands and localised beauty content is a key differentiator in this rapidly growing segment of India’s online market.” The online beauty market is around $600 million, growing at a CAGR of 30%, with Nykaa cornering a majority share, while other players which include Amazon, Flipkart and Purplle.