[Funding alert] Online beauty platform Purplle raises $30M in Series C round led by Goldman Sachs

Indian online beauty and personal care platform Purplle.com (Purplle) on Thursday said it has raised $30 million as part of its Series C funding round, led by Goldman Sachs. The round also saw participation from existing investors IvyCap Ventures, Blume Ventures, and JSW Ventures.

According to the startup, the new funding will be utilised to augment its unique supply of brands and products on the platform through partnerships, enhance the company’s data stack through investments in women-focused digital content,  curate highly personalised digital experiences for consumers powered by user personas and the company’s recommendation engine, and further build the company’s global supply chain.

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Launched in 2012, Purplle is an online beauty and personal care ecommerce platform which provides personalised digital shopping experiences for consumers by creating detailed user personas.

This enables customers to test make-up, for instance, with the platform recommending products based on persona, search keywords, and purchase behaviour. 

Speaking on the investment, Purplle’s Co-founder and CEO Manish Taneja said, 

“This investment from Goldman Sachs is a testament to the promise and potential of Purplle. This new funding will help propel the business to its next phase of growth for our customers and investors.”

Currently, the company offers a wide assortment of 47,500 SKUs across 1,000+ third-party and owned brands. Over the past two years, Purplle claims, its net merchandise value has more than quadrupled.

Elaborating on the company’s growth plans, Rahul Dash, Co-founder of Purplle added, 

“This milestone funding will help us expand and strengthen our supply chain, marketing, and technology.  Given our rate of progress, we expect our growth in scale and size to expand ten-fold by the end of 2023.”

Prior to this round, the company had raised $10 million over the past six years, taking the total funds raised to date to $110 million. 

Speaking on the investment, Niladri Mukhopadhyay, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs said, 

“Purplle, which has managed impressive growth while applying financial discipline, is one of the most promising vertical ecommerce platforms in India. The successful combination of best-in-class technology with their own innovative brands and localised beauty content is a key differentiator in this rapidly growing segment of India’s online market. We look forward to leveraging our global experience and network for the continued growth of Purplle.”

Currently, Purplle claims to have 450+ employees and to be growing by more than 100 percent year-on-year.

(Edited by Athirupa Geetha Manichandar)

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