Clean Beauty Marketplace Vanity Wagon Raises INR 5.5 Cr Pre-Series A Round Led By Inflection Point Ventures The funds raised will be used for further strengthening the tech platform, marketing, brand building, team expansion, private label acquisitions and expansion to the international market
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Clean beauty marketplace Vanity Wagon announced to have raised INR 5.5 crore in pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round also witnessed participation from Venture Catalysts, Lotus Herbals, the existing investors – Agility Ventures (led by Dhianu Das), and a consortium of HNI's (advised by Instarto).
The funds raised will be used for further strengthening the tech platform, marketing, brand building, team expansion, and private label acquisitions. Vanity Wagon also plans to expand in the international market.
"The beauty segment has been taken by a storm of Clean beauty. This is driven by consumers' demand to consume non-toxic beauty and personal care products. As brands in this segment continue to show robust growth, we see Vanity Wagon becoming a dominant marketplace in the clean beauty market in the next 2-3 years," shared Prateek Ruhail, co-founder and chief executive officer, Vanity Wagon.
The company has completed over 50,000 orders since its inception 2.5 years back and is now serving 1.3 lakh visitors on the website monthly, thereby creating a robust base in the Clean Beauty space in India with a high-power team. They have recorded 4.5-time growth in GMV and a 100 per cent growth in partner brands since its seed round was raised in September last year.
"India's cosmetics market is likely to reach $28.9 billion by 2026. With this, the clean beauty market will also see double the growth. Growing disposable income will lead to the increasing purchasing power of women who are more conscious now and would prefer only non-toxic products which would not harm their skin. As Vanity Wagon is the market leader in organic products, we foresee its growth as a robust marketplace of natural beauty products," said Dhianu Das, founder, Agility Ventures.
Vanity Wagon began its journey in 2018 with 10 brands and today it has 151 brands in its portfolio, exhibiting exponential growth. The motto of the company is – "Clean Beauty Delivered' and with that aim, it continues to build its capabilities in an industry that has taken the consumer products space by storm in the past 4 years. Building this e-commerce business has been backed by a robust founding team – Prateek Ruhail (Oxford University), Naina Ruhail (London Makeup School) and Sahil Shrestha (Era Business School).
"Modern age definition of beauty has moved far beyond fair skin. New-age brands are constantly challenging this norm and we have seen that many made-in-India beauty brands have proven that new-age women are looking for high efficacy products which are cruelty-free. Vanity Wagon's growth has been exponential and the boom in D2C and online commerce in the beauty sector is going to empower the next level of growth for the company," commented Mitesh Shah, co-founder, Inflection Point Ventures.
The information-oriented organic beauty marketplace is already associated with leading brands like Juicy Chemistry, Wow Skin Science, mCaffeine, Mama Earth, Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic, and Minimalist, and continues to grow its portfolio. It has a wide range of value offerings for customers including a Digital Magazine, products in Clean Beauty, Subscription Model, Online Consultation, and Full Stack Loyalty Program.
"Vanity Wagon is on the right growth trajectory on making its mark in the clean beauty industry with a solid team, a data-driven growth approach, and swift adaptability to the needs of the constantly evolving beauty consumers. We look forward to supporting them in capturing a sizeable quantum in the future of clean-organic personal care market," added Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, president, and co-founder, Venture Catalysts.
Vanity Wagon now caters to a global market (Singapore being their first entry point) with the total addressable market globally expected to be $11 billion by 2027. The Indian market is pegged to be $2 billion by 2025 thereby creating the necessity for a large e-retailer in the space. Vanity Wagon is right on its path to become the leader as an aggregator of Clean Beauty by reaping its first mover advantage and also the power packed team, the platform claims.
