Lotus Herbals Picks 25% Stake In D2C Beauty Startup Conscious Chemist

Lotus Herbals has picked up a 25% stake in D2C clean-beauty startup, Conscious Chemist, for an undisclosed amount.

The investment will be used by Conscious Chemist to add new products, expand its footprint across the country and drive consumer behavioural change.

Founded in 2020 by Robin Gupta and Prakher Mathur, Conscious Chemist is a clean beauty Direct-to-Consumer(D2C) brand that offers products that are produced without any suspected toxic ingredients and are ethically-sourced.

Lotus Herbals’ joint managing director, Nitin Passi, said, “We are excited about our strategic investment in Conscious Chemist since it aligns with our strategy for accelerating growth in the D2C digital native universe focused on clean beauty.”

Echoing the sentiment, CEO and cofounder of Conscious Chemist, Robin Gupta, said, “We are thrilled to announce our association with Lotus as we have always admired the legacy Lotus has built. We are confident that this synergistic relationship will drive exponential growth.”

This comes on the back of a slew of strategic investments by Lotus Herbals in the last 18 months. The cosmetic major had, earlier in September 2020, acquired a 100% stake in the Ayurvedic beauty product brand SoulTree. This was followed by snapping up a 32% stake in the dermaceutical company Fix Derma India in October last year.

Lotus Herbals is one of the biggest players in India’s cosmetic industry, with a presence in over 700 cities and 1.5 Lakh stores in India. 

An Inc42 report estimates that India’s beauty and personal care market is growing at a CAGR of 12.5% and is projected to reach $37.2 Bn by 2025. The D2C beauty market is also witnessing a major surge and is poised to grow to $5 Bn by 2025 at a CAGR of 9.3%.

This comes amidst a great run for beauty startups. Earlier this month, Honasa Consumer, the parent brand of Mamaearth, raised $52 Mn led by Sequoia, valuing the startup at $1.15 Bn. Online beauty marketplace Purplle too raised almost $38 Mn in its extended Series D round, earlier this month, valuing it at $725 Mn.

2021 too proved a great year for the beauty segment. While SUGAR Cosmetics bagged $21 Mn in its Series C round in February last year, Purplle too had raised close to $100 Mn in November last year. 

In April of 2021, WoW had raised $50 Mn from ChrysCapital. In December last year, another clean beauty D2C startup Soulflower raised an undisclosed amount from Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures. In October of 2021, another such D2C startup Vanity Wagon raised INR 5.5 Cr in Pre-Series A round. 

Conscious Chemist competes with the likes of beauty marketplace platforms such as Nykaa, SUGAR Cosmetics, Plum, WoW Skin, Purplle, among others.

The online beauty marketplace has seen a resurgence in the last few years and this is reflected in the funding for the sector. All that the sector now needs is more innovation and better products for customers.

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