Singapore’s GIC pumps $48 Mn in Wow Skin Science

Personal care brand Wow Skin Science has raised Rs 375 crore or $48 million from Singapore-based GIC (Waverly Pte Ltd). Last month, the ChrysCapital-backed company had announced its fundraising without disclosing the amount.

The board at Wow Skin has passed a special resolution to allot 3,168 CCDs at issue price of Rs 11,83,702 per share to raise Rs 375 crore or $48.7 million, a regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. 

Following the capital infusion, GIC will hold 17.24% of the total share capital in the company on a fully diluted basis.

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, Wow Skin has raised the funds at a post money valuation of $275 to $280 million. The company was reportedly in talks to raise a fresh round at a $400-$420 million valuation. In April last year, ChrysCapital had invested $50 million in the Bengaluru-based company for a 35% stake.

According to Entrackr’s sources, WOW Skin was also exploring merger and acquisition options amidst a funding slow down and it began talks with Reliance Retail for an acquisition. However, the new fundraise indicates that the company will continue to run independently.

Founded by Manish and Karan Chowdhary, Wow Skin is a beauty and personal care brand available across e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and Nykaa. It also sells through its own website as well as brick-and-mortar stores. 

Apart from India, it also operates in the U.S. Wow Skin competes with the likes of mCaffeine, Plum, Juicy Chemistry, MamaEarth among a few others.

While Wow Skin is yet to file annual financial statements for FY22, its revenue from operations soared 15.6X to Rs 100 crore in FY21 from Rs 6.4 crore in FY20, according to the company’s annual financial statements. As per Fintrackr’s analysis, its entire revenue came from the sale of goods. The company had posted a loss of Rs 8.7 crore in FY21 against a profit of Rs 9 lakh in FY20.