Steadview invests Rs 67 Cr more in Nykaa; holds 3% stake

Omnichannel beauty and lifestyle retailer Nykaa has mopped up another Rs 67 crore from its existing investor, Steadview Capital. Only last month, Nykaa had received Rs 100 crore from the Hong Kong and London-based hedge fund.

Following the deal, Steadview Capital will be holding a 3% stake in the Falguni Nayar-led firm.

Nykaa’s holding entity, FSN E-commerce Pvt Ltd, has allotted 1,09,986 equity shares at Rs 6,049.56 per share to Steadview Capital Mauritius Ltd to raise the aforementioned sum, said an ET report citing regulatory files accessed by Tofler.

The fresh capital has come at a time when e-commerce, especially non-essential businesses, has plummeted. Due to the nationwide lockdown, Nykaa had to suspend its operations temporarily. The company even informed its vendors and partners to expect a delay in payments.

After some relaxations, Nykaa has resumed operations with an emphasis on essential personal care and hygiene products like handwashes, masks, and hand sanitizers. Like others, it focuses on private label brands in the aforementioned categories.

To engage users during lockdown when the core business is standstill, Nykaa is pushing women-focused content on wellness, fitness, and DIY videos. It also helped the company to experience a 120% increase in watch time on the YouTube Channel.

In the online beauty retail segment, not only Nykaa but its competitors including Purplle and horizontal marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart, also been engaging users through essentials and different formats of content.

One of the profitable startups in the consumer internet space, Nykaa counts TPG Growth, Lighthouse, and TVS Capital Funds besides Steadview as its prominent backers. Its rival Purplle is also an underdog and very close to turn profitable. The Manish Taneja led company raised capital after the gap of five years from Goldman Sachs.