JSW Fund I exits Purplle with 2.7X return

JSW Ventures on Monday said it has exited its shareholding in Purplle through a sale to Manipal Education & Medical Group Family Office (MEMG). The venture capital firm added its JSW Ventures Fund I made an 18x return on its initial investment in Purplle. The return on the corpus of Fund I stood at 2.7x. 

This is a back-to-back secondary transaction for the online beauty marketplace in 2023. In May, JSW Ventures sold a part of its holding in the company to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The deal also gave a 2 fold return to the venture capital firm.

JSW Ventures first invested in Purplle's Series A round in 2016 from its Fund I. Notably, JSW continues to stay invested in Purplle from its second fund.

In June 2022, Purplle raised $33 million in its Series E round from South Korea’s Paramark Ventures as well as existing backers Blume Ventures, Kedaara and billionaire Azim Premji’s Premji Invest. The company turned unicorn after that round with a valuation of $1.1 billion.

The Manish Taneja-led company is majorly a marketplace but it also sells its own labels such as Good Vibes. The firm primarily competes with Nykaa (a public company) whereas its indirect competition counts horizontal marketplaces: Amazon, Flipkart, Good Glamm Group among others.

Purplle’s revenue from operations grew 71.6% to Rs 219.88 crore in FY22 from Rs 128.15 crore in FY21. As per data intelligence platform TheKredible, its losses jumped 3.9X to Rs 203.63 crore in FY22. The firm is yet to file its FY23 numbers.

Indian startups saw a bunch of secondary exits in 2023. Last month, early-stage micro venture capital Artha Venture Fund (AVF) announced a partial exit from fleet management company Everest Fleet. Early-stage venture capital First Cheque also took a partial exit from its portfolio company GIVA. Cusmat, K12 Techno Services and Credgenics also saw partial or full exits this year.

Update 18:08pm IST October 20, 2023: This article has been updated with fresh inputs from the venture capital firm.