Mahesh Bhupathi-Led Scentials Raises $3.6 Mn Led By Unilever Ventures

Mumbai-based beauty and wellness company offering products by celebrities, Scentials, has raised $3.6 Mn (INR 25 Cr) in a Series A funding. The round was led by FMCG major Unilever’s VC fund, Unilever Ventures.

The funds will be used to expand its offerings by introducing new lines and limited editions. It is looking to offer a wide range of beauty products with the next launch scheduled for makeup line with Malaika Arora before Diwali.

Scentials was advised by Lastaki Advisors on the deal.

Founded in 2018 by Jinesh Mehta and Mahesh Bhupathi, Scentials offers crafted skin care products and fragrances curated by India’s top celebrities and fashionistas. The company launched Virat Kohli’s’ One8 brand in the fragrance category in January. It was followed with the launch of a line of Skin care “Arias” with Lara Dutta.

Mahesh Bhupathi, cofounder and CEO, Scentials said, “There have been multiple success stories with celebrity beauty brands and licenses in the west and with our product and distribution offering we feel we are able to offer the celebrity an opportunity to create serious value.”

The products are available across formats including Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Health & Glow, More Supermarkets and Amazon.in.

Pawan Chaturvedi, investment director at Unilever Ventures, said, “Scentials is building a unique beauty brands studio platform that combines fast paced innovations across beauty categories with endorsements from top tier Indian celebrities in sports, films and entertainment. The celebrity partnerships provide massive traditional and social media reach driving brand salience.”

After years of celebrities working as brand ambassadors for brands, they are increasingly donning the hat of investors and founders. This includes bollywood celebrities Salman Khan (Being Human), Deepika Padukone (All About You), Hrithik Roshan (HRX) Anushka Sharma (Nush) to cricketers like Virat Kohli (Wrogn) and Yuvraj Singh (Youwecan).

Indian beauty market is expected to cross $3.5 Bn by 2022 and the star-studded background adds to the interest in the segment led by players such as Nykaa, Purplle etc.