Beauty e-tailer Nykaa raises $12 mn from Hero Group's Sunil Munjal, others

Mumbai-based online beauty essentials retailer Nykaa has raised $12 million (Rs 82 crore) in a new round led by Hero Group's Sunil Munjal.

The development was first reported by The Times of India. Queries sent to the company did not elicit a response at the time of writing this report.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures Pvt Ltd, which runs Nykaa, had raised Rs 60 crore ($9 million) in its second institutional funding round led by private equity firm TVS Capital in October last year.

This round also saw participation from investors such as Techpro Ventures, the family office of Atul Nishar (former Hexaware promoter), family office of Harsh Mariwala (Marico's chairman), former Warburg Pincus top executive Dalip Pathak in his personal capacity and former president of Givaudan Fragrances, Michael Carlos.

Prior to that, Nykaa secured round $3.4 million from family offices and high net-worth individuals in 2014.

Nykaa was founded in 2012 by investment-banker-turned entrepreneur Falguni Nayar, former managing director at Kotak Mahindra Capital. The online marketplace sells products across makeup categories ranging from skincare, hair care, fragrances, bath and body and luxury products for both women and men.

Last year, the company had said it would be focussing on opening physical stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

In the online beauty e-tailing segment, Purplle.com, run by Mumbai-based Manash Lifestyle Pvt Ltd, had secured an undisclosed amount in its Series A round of funding from early-to-growth stage VC firm IvyCap Ventures in January this year, and from JSW Ventures in July this year.

Beauty e-tailers also face competition from horizontal e-com players such as Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon.

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