US-based marquee investor Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), known for its Indian bets on unicorns such as Swiggy and Bigbasket, has led a ₹100 crore round in beauty and makeup products brand MyGlamm, said two people of the matter, on the condition of anonymity.
The company is now valued at ₹500 crore, said the first of the people cited above.
It marks Bessemer’s first new investment in over a year, after it backed online medicine delivery startup PharmEasy in a $30 million round last March.
Founded by Darpan Sanghvi, MyGlamm currently sells products including lipstick, eyeshadow and makeup kits, on its website, as well as by partnering with offline retail stores such as Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop. It last raised ₹35 crore from French cosmetics company L’Occitane in March 2017, when it used to be an on-demand beauty services provider. Prior to that it had raised $6 million in 2016, where Asia-focused private equity investor Tano Capital had also participated.
Until 2017, Bessemer was one of India’s active early stage investors, with over two dozen investments, including Swiggy and Bigbasket, both valued at over a billion dollars today, as well as indirect stakes in Ola, after it acquired TaxiForSure, where BVP has invested. Its other investments include TPG-backed home design startup Livspace, PharmEasy, home services startup UrbanClap and doctor consultation platform DocsApp.
Globally, BVP’s portfolio includes LinkedIn, Pinterest and Yelp.com. It is currently investing from its global fund of $1.85 billion, which it raised last year. Its India head, Vishal Gupta, had said that while it doesn't have a specific India allocation, it typically invests 30% in international markets, namely India and Israel.
While Gupta did not respond to messages seeking comment, MyGlamm did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The investment in MyGlamm also comes at a time when beauty and make up retailers- both brands as well as marketplaces, are seeing increased investor interest.
Mint reported on January 31 that A91 Partners, a fund set up by three former Sequoia Capital executives, has made its first investment, in make-up brand Sugar Cosmetics. Cosmetics retailers Nykaa and Purplle, have also raised successive rounds of funding. Nykaa, founded by former investment banker Falguni Nayar, was valued at $724 million in March last year, with investors such as TPG Growth, TVS Capital, Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman of Hero Enterprises and Harsh Mariwala, founder of consumer goods giant Marico.