Clean Beauty Startup Vanity Wagon Secures Funding From Lotus Herbals, Others

Clean beauty startup Vanity Wagon has secured $2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round at a post-money valuation of $8 Mn. The round was co-led by Lotus Herbals and Agility Ventures Partners. 

Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts, and other high-net individuals (HNIs) also have participated in the funding round. 

Vanity Wagon will use the funds to fortify its position in the market and invest in brand building. The startup will also deploy funds to grow its private label portfolio, offline retail, technology, marketing and sales-driven strategies.

Vanity Wagon said that the current fundraising will help it onboard more clean beauty brands, build an omnichannel presence and expand its geographical footprint globally.

The development comes almost a year after Vanity Wagon secured $1 Mn in its pre-seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Prior to that, it also secured $200K in its seed funding round led by Agility Venture Partners. Dhianu Das from Alfa Ventures and Sanjay Nagi also participated in the round.

“Lotus has been India’s pioneer beauty brand synonymous with green, clean, ethical and natural products in skincare, haircare and makeup for three decades. I am excited about our new journey with Vanity Wagon-India’s largest e-commerce platform for clean beauty,” said Nitin Passi, chairman and managing director of Lotus Herbals.

Founded in 2018 by Naina Ruhail and Prateek Ruhail, Vanity Wagon is a Delhi-based clean beauty ecommerce marketplace. It offers clean beauty and wellness products in various categories including body, hair and face care, makeup, and mom and baby products.

The startup said it is looking to become an INR 500 Cr brand in the next two years. It further aims to increase its sales by 5x using its acquired brands. 

“Our vision is to build a sustainable and a legacy brand in the beauty segment which will only be strengthened by this investment. The beauty market and e-retail market are going through an interesting time, where every enterprise is trying to establish a market presence. We are definitely going to continue reinforcing our hold on the Clean  Beauty Market,” said Naina Ruhail, cofounder, director and co-CEO of Vanity Wagon.

The clean beauty startup claims to host more than 350 brands on its platform. Of this, 15% are international brands, it said. It further said that Vanity Wagon has launched five new international brands in India. 

Clean beauty products, in essence, are products that are made of natural ingredients and are toxin-free. Recently, Indian customers are preferring clean beauty products more than other chemically-manufactured ones. 

Beauty ecommerce startups Nykaa and Purple are some of the brands that are also operating in India’s clean beauty space.

According to a report, the country’s clean beauty sector is pegged at $0.84 Bn in 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 3.41% between 2022 and 2026.

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