Pernia Parent Purple Style Labs Bags $14 Mn Funding For Global Expansion

Luxury fashion house Purple Style Labs, the parent of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop, has raised $14 Mn (about INR 114.5 Cr) in a Series C funding round led by ValueQuest, ScaleFund, Singularity Growth Opportunities Fund I, ValPro, Masaba Gupta, among others.

The funding round also saw participation from existing investors such as Astarc Ventures, Param Capital partner Mukul Agrawal, and Xander Group founder Sid Yog, the startup said in a statement.

Founded by Abhishek Agarwal in 2015, Purple Style Labs retails high-end designer brands under Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop brand. It also incubates young designer brands and helps them with sales, marketing, and technical support.

The fashion house acquired Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop in 2018. Agarwal claimed that the startup has scaled Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop over 70X in the last five years. “In the coming years, we hope to achieve new heights with more key international locations, broadening our presence and taking Indian fashion and design to the next level,” he added.

Since the acquisition of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop in 2018, Purple Style Labs has opened 15 Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio experience centres across cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad and an international store in Mayfair, London.

Over the next two years, it aims to open stores in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dubai, and Singapore.

Purple Style Labs also claimed that it saw over 100% year-on-year (YoY) growth during the last 2 years and closed FY23 with a consolidated revenue of over $45 Mn. It also claimed to have achieved EBITDA breakeven in FY23.

In June last year, the fashion brand raised $10 Mn in its Series B round led by angel investor Akash Bhansali. It also saw participation from other angel investors such as actor Madhuri Dixit Nene, Alpha Wave Global’s Navroz Udwadia.

According to Statista, the Indian luxury fashion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.32% during 2023-2028 to reach a size of $1.64 Bn in 2028 from $1.53 Bn in 2023.

Purple Style Labs’ fundraise comes amidst the ongoing funding winter, which has severely affected the Indian startup ecosystem. The funding raised by Indian startups declined 75% YoY to $3 Bn in the first quarter of 2023.