Bollywood Star Katrina Kaif Invests In Beauty Marketplace Nykaa

Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif has invested an undisclosed amount in Nykaa through a secondary transaction. The development comes after Kaif launched her own beauty line, Kay Beauty, on the beauty and ecommerce brand last year.

Commenting on the same, Kaif said, “I was familiar with the company’s growing brand equity and market leadership and becoming an investor is the next logical step in sharing the Nykaa vision. Nykaa has opened new avenues for women to explore and celebrate their own unique idea of beauty.”

Nykaa has raised more than $145.9 Mn from marquee investors like Asia-focused hedge fund Steadview Capital, Lexdale, TPG Growth, Lighthouse Funds and more. The company had last raised INR 19.6 Cr (nearly $2 Mn) from existing investor Sunil Kant Munjal, one of the founder promoters of the Hero Group, in June 2020.

Prior to this, the company had raised INR 167 Cr from Steadview Capital in two different tranches in May 2020. It has also raised INR 100 Cr from American private equity firm TPG Growth, and valued at $724 Mn post the round in April 2019 and $15.72 Mn from Lighthouse India Fund III.

Founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012, Nykaa is an online marketplace for beauty and wellness products. Since 2015, Nykaa has also grown its physical store presence in the country with a current footprint of around 70 stores, housing luxury brands such as Tom Ford, Jo Malone London, Dior and Givenchy. It is looking to expand into 40 more in the coming years.

As far as its online store is concerned, the company claims to be fulfilling nearly 1.5 Mn orders a month, offering over 1.5K brands and 130K products.

Nykaa turned profitable in the financial year 2019, with a revenue of INR 1,160.98 Cr and an expenses of INR 1,157 leading to a profit of INR 2.31 Cr. Compared to FY18, the company has almost doubled its revenue and expenses. In FY18, Nykaa reported INR 555.98 Cr revenue, INR 572.39 Cr expenses, leading to a loss of INR 17.71 Cr. The company is yet to post the revenues for the financial year 2020 which ended on March 31, 2020.

According to a report by RedSeer Consulting, Indian online beauty and personal care market is expected to cross $3.5 Bn by 2022. In this segment, Nykaa competes against the likes of Purplle and Scentials.

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