Soulflower Raises Funding From Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures

Clean beauty D2C startup Soulflower has raised an undisclosed amount from Wipro Consumer Care-Ventures, the VC fund of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting. 

Founded by Natasha Tuli in 2001. Soulflower caters to the increasing demand for high-efficacy ‘farm-to-face’ personal care solutions in domestic and international markets. The startup claims to be a pioneer in offering cruelty-free beauty products.

“Our investment in Soulflower is part of our strategy to support innovative D2C clean beauty brands. We want to back authentic brands that address the unique requirements of consumers. Natasha has built her business on the principles of transparency & innovation. The brand has served over 1 Mn customers till date,” said Sumit Keshan, managing partner, Wipro Consumer Care–Ventures.

Soulflower will utilise the freshly infused capital towards increasing brand transparency for customers and adopting sustainable manufacturing and sourcing technologies. 

It has more than 200 active SKUs positioned in a sweet spot between mass-market and premium. It has already launched in international markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Japan. 

According to Inc42 Plus, the beauty and personal care market in India is estimated to be worth $26.9 Bn in 2021 and is projected to grow to reach $37.2 Bn by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 12.5%.  

The Covid-19 pandemic drove online discovery and sales of new beauty brands after brick-and-mortar stores were badly affected by the frequent shutdowns of supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores, salons etc. 

For the first time, ecommerce shot to the top of the beauty business pyramid and saw the highest growth in product distribution share as customers began to value the convenience and safety that it offers. 

India’s online beauty and personal care market is estimated to be worth $3.5 Bn in 2021 and is poised to grow to $5 Bn by the year 2025, growing at a CAGR of 9.3%, accounting for 15% of the total beauty and personal care market by then.

This is in sharp contrast to popular beauty brands such as Revlon and Lotus which took two decades to reach the INR 100 Cr revenue mark. New-age brands like Mamaearth and SUGAR took four years and eight years respectively.