The purchase has been made through Nykaa’s retail arm for fashion and accessories, Nykaa Fashion.
Pipa Bella will continue to offer services on its own website and extend them as a consumer brand under the Nykaa portfolio.
Pipa Bella was launched in 2012 by Shuchi Pandya, an alumnus of The Wharton School and the NYU Stern School of Business.
The brand targets the 22-35-year-old urban woman.
Pipa Bella had secured funding from early-stage venture capital firm Fireside Ventures in 2018. In 2015, it secured $600,000 in a pre-Series A round led by LionRock Capital. To expand its fashion business, beauty e-tailer Nykaa had acquired women styling platform 20Dresses.com for an undisclosed sum in 2019.
Q: Can you provide a ballpark figure on the kind of investments that can be seen in next 3-4 years and how the funds will be raised? Also, do you have acquisitions on your radar or you just want to grow organically?
Nykaa is said to be seeking a valuation of over $3 billion for its public listing. It would be joining other e-commerce leaders preparing for the public markets, such as Flipkart, Zomato and Pepperfry.
The Mumbai-based firm last raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge round of funding from Boston-based asset manager Fidelity Investments Inc. in November at a valuation of a little over $1.8 billion
Nykaa was set up in 2012 by investment banker-turned-entrepreneur Falguni Nayar, who was a managing director at Kotak Mahindra Capital. Its online marketplace sells products for both women and men in categories including skincare, hair care, fragrances, bath and body, and luxury products.
Nykaa has become an omnichannel lifestyle retailer with over 17 million monthly active users, over 70 stores across India, and fulfilling over 1.5 million orders a month.
Investors in the firm include Steadview Capital, Lighthouse and TPG.
(As published in vccircle April 12, 2021 )