D2C Perfume Brand Secret Alchemist Raises $3 Mn From Unilever Ventures

Beauty and personal care (BPC) startup Secret Alchemist has raised $3 Mn (INR 27.1 Cr) in a seed funding round led by Hindustan Unilever’s venture arm, Unilever Ventures. The round, which included a mix of primary and secondary transactions, saw participation from investor DSG Consumer Partners as well.

The D2C brand positions itself as a “clean” perfume retailer, with fragrances that are ingredient led and rooted in Indian aromatherapy and perfumery traditions. It plans to double down on this by utilising the fresh capital to expand its portfolio, invest in R&D and build its leadership and core team.

Founded by Ankita Thadani and Akash Valia in 2021 as an aromatherapy and essential oils based wellness brand, Secret Alchemist shifted completely to perfumes later after actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu joined as a cofounder last year.

It currently sells its products on its own website, along with popular online marketplaces like Nykaa, Myntra and Amazon, alongside quickcommerce platforms like Zepto and BlinkIt. Full size bottles of its perfumes start from INR 1,099.

Prior to this round, the startup had earlier raised a $500K seed round from Inflection Point Ventures, which continues to remain an investor.

The brand’s evolution mirrors a larger trend within India’s beauty and personal care (BPC) market, where fragrances have emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories. Premiumisation, rising disposable incomes and social-media-led discovery have helped perfumes move from an occasional purchase to a repeat-use category.

For HUL, these shifts have prompted a recalibration of its India strategy over the last few years. The FMCG major has increasingly turned to minority investments, strategic partnerships and acquisitions in D2C startups to tap into categories where legacy brands have struggled to gain traction. Beauty and wellness have been a particular focus, given faster growth rates and lower entry barriers compared to staples.

HUL’s portfolio of new-age consumer brands includes Plum, Arata, RAS, Inde Wild and WishCare, alongside wellness platforms such as Cure.fit and HealthifyMe. The strategy also allows HUL to hedge against changing consumption behaviour. Over the last decade, urban consumers have increasingly moved away from mass-market personal care brands towards clean-label, ingredient-led and influencer-backed products. D2C brands have been quicker to adapt to these preferences — a gap HUL has sought to bridge through external bets rather than in-house brand building alone.

For instance, HUL acquired an over 90% stake in skincare brand Minimalist for INR 2,995 Cr, one of the largest startup acquisitions in 2025. The acquisition gave HUL a strong foothold in the ingredient-first skincare segment, which has been steadily expanding its market share in recent times.