POPxo Founder and CEO to join MyGlamm as Co-founder
India-based consumer beauty brand MyGlamm has acquired POPxo, an Indian digital content platform for women, according to a statement released late last week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition will help build ‘the largest 3C (Content + Community + Commerce) company in South Asia’, the statement said, with a focus on products in the beauty and lifestyle category.
It added that POPxo backers India-based tech venture investor Chiratae Ventures, Indian early-stage tech investor Kalaari Capital, and South Korean conglomerate Doosan Group’s investment arm Neoplux Venture Capital will join MyGlamm’s investor roster.
MyGlamm’s key investors include American venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, premium French beauty brand L’Occitane en Provence, Indian private investor Shivanand Shankar Mankekar’s family office, and alternative asset management firm Tano Capital.
Further, POPxo’s Founder and CEO Priyanka Gill will be joining MyGlamm as Co-founder, the statement said.
Projections of annualized revenues for the two companies stand at an estimated INR 4 billion (US$53.4 million at current rates) by December 2021, according to the statement.
“The POPxo vision has always been to build a content-community-commerce destination for women in India, with MyGlamm we have found a powerful partner with proven strengths in producing and selling beauty products at scale,” Gill noted in the statement.
Founded in 2014, POPxo currently logs over 43 million monthly active users across its platforms, the statement noted.
The company had last raised INR 370 million in a Series C round of financing, led by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo and Neoplux in 2018.
Indian venture investors Chiratae Ventures and Kalaari Capital also participated in the round, along with other investors. As of 2018, POPxo was valued at an estimated $10.8 million.
“With this acquisition, MyGlamm will further be able to connect with the millennial women, reach uncharted geographies, and work with POPxo in identifying emerging consumer needs & consumption patterns to co-create tomorrow’s beauty trends,” Co-founder and CEO of MyGlamm, Darpan Sanghvi said in the statement.
Since its launch in 2017, MyGlamm has established 2000 points of sale (including over 300 retail outlets) across India, with INR 1.4 billion (U$18.6 million at current rates) in annualized revenues, the statement noted. The company has grown 400% in the past 12 months.
The company touched a post-money valuation of INR 5 billion after it raised INR 1 billion in a venture round in 2019 from Bessemer Venture Partners and L’Occitane.
Since then, MyGlamm has raised a total of INR 465 million ($6.2 million at current rates). The funds were raised entirely in 2020, with $1.8 million debt plus equity financing raised from Indian venture debt investors Trifecta Capital Advisors through two rounds this year.
MyGlamm also raised INR 330 million ($4.4 million at current rates) in a Series B round this year from a consortium of investors including Sanghvi, Trifecta Capital Advisors, Bessemer Venture Partners and L’Occitane.
The company’s competitors have also had a good year in terms of fundraising in 2020, with Nykaa raising INR 1.67 billion ($22.2 million at current rates) in two Series F tranches, and Purplle pocketing $8 million in a Series C extension round in January this year.
The beauty and personal care (BPC) segment in India is experiencing a positive market outlook. Although mature markets such as South Korea and Japan dominate the landscape in the Asia Pacific (which accounts for 32% of the global BPC market), India was ranked eighth in global BPC sales in 2018, with the country’s retail value for the BPC segment standing at $14 billion.
The BPC market in India is expected to grow to $22 billion by 2022, driven by an increase in disposable incomes amongst the Indian population.
This is further pushing demand for premium products in the BPC segment, with sales for premium BPC products touching $774 million in 2018.
As a mobile-first country with a robust internet economy, the BPC market in the subcontinent presents a massive Ecommerce opportunity for brands such as MyGlamm, Nykaa, and Purplle.
