Juicy Chemistry bags $6.3 Mn in its Series A round from Verlinvest and Purplle; valuation soars 10X

Skin and personal care brand Juicy Chemistry has raised $6.3 million in its maiden institutional round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest, the company said in a statement. This marks one of the largest Series A rounds in a direct to consumer (D2C) brand in the beauty and personal care space.

Previously, Sugar Cosmetics had raised $2.5 million in 2017 and Mamaerath had raised $4 million in 2018 in their Series A rounds.

Regulatory filings show that online beauty and personal care company Purplle has also participated in the financing round.

Juicy Chemistry has passed a special resolution to allot 20 equity shares and 21,866 Series A preference shares at an issue price of Rs 15,992.41 per share to raise Rs 35 crore or $4.8 million in its Series A round for now. It appears that the company will receive the rest of the amount soon to make the total of $6.3 million as mentioned in its statement. 

Verlinvest has invested Rs 17.9 crore and Purplle has put in Rs 17.1 crore. 

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Juicy Chemistry has achieved a post-money valuation of Rs 190 crore or $26 million. This is more than a 10X jump in the company’s valuation within a year which was estimated at around $2.5 million during the seed round.

Following the investment, Verlinvest will acquire a 9.42% stake in Juicy Chemistry and Purplle will control a 9.01% stake. The collective stake of promoters Megha Asher and Pritesh Asher have been diluted to 60.37% from 74%. 

After bootstrapping for six years, the Coimbatore-based startup had raised its angel round of $650K from Amit Nanavati in May 2020 and he now holds a 20.96% stake in the seven-year-old company.

Juicy Chemistry offers a range of skincare products consisting of cleansers, moisturizers, floral waters, gourmet soaps and hair masques. It’s worth noting that Purplle also sells Juicy Chemistry’s products on its platform.

The company directly competes with the likes of Sugar Cosmetics, Mamaearth and Plum and to some extent with Nykaa and Purplle who also sell private labels in the beauty and wellness space.

Separate filings show that for the fiscal year 2019-20, Juicy Chemistry has recorded operating revenue of Rs 3.71 crore with a total expenditure of Rs 3.91 crore. The company’s loss during the period was recorded at Rs 17 lakh. In the ongoing fiscal, it claims to have seen a 300% jump in revenues with a growing customer base.