Beauty retailer Nykaa raises Rs 1.65 bn in series D funding

The proceeds will help to fund growth capital as well as expand the retail footprint of the brand.

Beauty retailer Nykaa has closed its series D investment round of Rs 1.65 billion. This includes both primary investment and secondary exit of some early-stage investors. The funding will help to fund growth capital as well as expand the retail footprint of the brand. For the financial year 2017-18, Nykaa reported a net revenue of Rs 5.70 billion as compared to Rs 2.14 billion in FY17. The company expects to be profitable in FY19.

Many of the early stage investors including Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Corporate Service P Ltd, the family offices of Harsh Mariwala and Dalip Pathak, private equity veteran have reinvested in this round amongst others.

"The focus of Nykaa has always been customer centricity resting on curation, content and convenience. Advice, education and conversations with our customers are key elements of Nykaa's philosophy and we have recently launched Nykaa Network to build on our consumer centricity. We offer the best assortment and information needed to make the right choice. Through efficient technology and logistics, along with our omni-channel model, we make sure we deliver the best shopping experience to every customer," says Falguni Nayar, Founder & CEO, Nykaa.com.

Launched in 2012 the retailer currently offers over 850 brands and 100,000 products. It has brought international brands like M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Smashbox Cosmetics online in India. In doing so it became the first e-tailer to make luxury beauty available to its customers and today the luxury vertical accounts for 15 per cent of its total revenue. Nykaa also introduced beauty brands like Huda Beauty, Wet n Wild and NYX Cosmetics to the Indian market.

Since 2015, Nykaa has taken an omnichannel approach to beauty retail, opening stores across the country. It currently has 17 stores in India in two formats - Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa On Trend. The On Trend stores offer a curatorial experience featuring bestselling products chosen from over 100 beauty brands, while the Luxe format focuses on the complete offering from the prestigious beauty brands. Nykaa aims to open 55 stores by March 2019.

With Nykaa Beauty, its in-house portfolio of beauty product, Nykaa now offers over 400 SKUs across cosmetics, naturals, bath & body and fragrances. Each product line is based on identifying and understanding evolving consumer trends and creating a strong product line-up. The focus of this collection is to deliver innovative and high-quality products that result in customer delight.