Beauty startups struggle to scale up business amid drying funds

Around 11 startups in the segment have been acquired by bigger brands within a year's time

In a little over a year, around 11 startups in the beauty and wellness space have been acquired, with five changing hands in 2017. That's because startups in this segment have struggled to scale up and crack their unit economics. As funding dried, the founders began looking for exits.

For instance, Vanity Cube was acquired by fitness major VLCC, while Vymo was bought by Naturals, a South India-based salon chain. Belita, a pioneer in the at-home beauty service in Mumbai, was acquired by city salon chain Enrich. Some of the weaker players were acquired by Quikr, Little and others, say insiders.

There