Personal Care D2C Brand WOW Skin Science Raises $50 Mn From ChrysCapital

Personal care brand WOW Skin Science will receive an investment worth $50 Mn from India-focused private equity firm ChrysCapital, in exchange for a significant minority stake. 

Founded in 2014 by Manish and Karan Chowdhary, WOW Skin Science is among the leading Indian direct-to-customer or D2C brands operating in the personal care and beauty segment. The company employs an omnichannel approach for sales, with its products available on ecommerce websites, brick and mortar stores as well as its own D2C website. 

The company claims that all its products, across categories such as skin, hair, nutritional supplements, bath and body, and wellness, are made of natural ingredients. The company will utilise the funds to expand penetration across channels, and further develop its portfolio of brands and products.

“WOW Skin Science is a “consumer first” brand in the D2C space. We strive to optimize the consumer’s experience and address their problems and pain points by leveraging technology and innovation. From being a digital-first brand, the vision now is to scale up to become the number one brand in the toxin-free space within the larger FMCG sector,” said Manish Chowdhary about the recent funding. 

As for ChrysCapital, the firm’s focus sectors for investment include business services, financial services, healthcare and life sciences and consumer, new economy and others. Besides WOW Skin Science, ChrysCapital has also invested in other consumer and new economy startups such as Dream Sports (Dream11 parent), FirstCry, awfis and Livguard. 

“WOW’s unique positioning of toxin-free beauty regimes centred around natural ingredients (apple cider vinegar, onion, Vitamin C) at an affordable price point has created strong resonance with a fast-growing millennial demographic. We look forward to helping WOW grow multi-fold by further increasing online penetration, driving pan-India offline expansion, and launching new brands in adjacent categories,” said Ashish Agrawal, managing director at ChrysCapital. 

In the personal care segment, WOW Skin Science competes with several other Indian D2C brands such as Plum and Phy (PurePlay Skin Sciences), mCaffeine, Beardo, Mamaearth and Bombay Shaving Company. 

The personal care market in India is set to touch $20 Bn by 2035 on the back of a rise in disposable income of the middle class and growing aspirations of people to live a good life and look good, according to ASSOCHAM.