Not long ago, The Good Glamm Group was the D2C world’s poster child. A digital-first, content-powered beauty unicorn with $342 million in funding from hot shots like Prosus Ventures, Amazon, and Warburg Pincus, and a string of bold acquisitions under its belt, the company had one foot in commerce and the other firmly planted in India’s influencer economy.
Seems like 2025 wasn’t their strongest forte, from allegations of unpaid salaries to leadership exits and distressed sales, The Good Glamm Group’s once-celebrated content-to-commerce model is now facing a reality check.
Where it all began
It all began in 2017 when Darpan Sanghvi launched MyGlamm, a direct-to-consumer beauty brand backed by French cosmetics major L’Occitane. As per Outlook Business, in its first year, MyGlamm clocked Rs 13.7 crore in revenue, a promising start on paper. But the underlying math was messy: the company was reportedly spending Rs 1,000 to acquire each customer in an industry where the average order value was just Rs 750. In other words, it was bleeding before it could even blush.
To fix this, Sanghvi turned to content. Recognising the power of storytelling and digital communities to bring in organic traffic, he decided to own the media, rather than rent it through ads. But content takes time, and time, in start-up land, is more expensive than beauty serum. So, he took the acquisition route instead, more like the Thrasio Model.
Between 2020 and 2022, MyGlamm went on a buying spree. It picked up PopXO and Plixxo, both led by Priyanka Gill; BabyChakra, founded by Naiyya Saggi; and later, MissMalini, ScoopWhoop, Sirona, The Moms Co. and others, reported Outlook. These formed the backbone of the newly rebranded Good Glamm Group. At first, the model seemed to work. After acquiring PopXO, monthly visits to the MyGlamm website surged from 30,000 to 250,000. Customer acquisition costs dropped from $15 to $1, and the company even posted positive EBITDA that year.
The glam cracks begin to show
But what looked like synergy on PowerPoint struggled to work in practice. According to Outlook Business, losses swelled to Rs 362 crore in FY22 and ballooned to Rs 917 crore in FY23, a 150% jump. All this despite revenue reaching Rs 603 crore. For a company built to dazzle, these numbers were sobering.
Founders from the acquired brands were reportedly sidelined. Teams were centralised. Product formulations changed. Marketing budgets shrank. The result: buggy websites, declining product quality, and internal churn as per Inc42. MyGlamm’s own site was said to be riddled with issues, while brand inventories dried up across marketplaces.
Meanwhile, the Serena Williams-backed launch of Wyn Beauty in the US appeared to be the company’s attempt at escaping its own storm. But back in India, vendors and employees were still waiting for dues. As of June 2025, the company hadn’t paid full salaries in over three months, Inc42 reported.
Boardroom blues and fire sales
What followed was a slow unravelling. According to Outlook Business, Priyanka Gill and CEO Sukhleen Aneja stepped down. Naiyya Saggi stopped handling daily operations. Independent directors from Accel, Bessemer and Prosus exited the board. Investor confidence plummeted.
The company’s lenders, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital and Trifecta, stepped in. Arjun Vaidyanathan, formerly with KPMG and Paytm, was brought in to lead the restructuring process, Inc42 reported.
Good Glamm, once operating out of multiple offices, was now reduced to a single co-working space in Delhi’s Greater Kailash, with the bulk of staff working remotely and unpaid. Desperate for liquidity, the company began selling off assets. Sirona, bought for an estimated Rs 450 crore, was sold back to its founders for around Rs 150 crore, as per media reports. ScoopWhoop was sold to WLDD for just Rs 20 crore, less than a quarter of its acquisition value. MissMalini fetched Rs 4 crore in its resale.
When Financial Express approached for a comment, the company said it would not speak on the record until its ongoing restructuring process is complete. In a July 4 LinkedIn post, Sanghvi broke his silence. He admitted that a near-final funding deal had collapsed when the acquiring company’s CEO abruptly resigned. “It was a gut punch out of nowhere,” he wrote, adding, “I will not stop until I set things right.”
What now?
Good Glamm wasn’t the only one betting big on the Thrasio-style roll-up model. Others like Mensa Brands and GlobalBees also acquired multiple D2C brands in hopes of scaling rapidly. But questions around sustainability are now being asked across the board.
“Digital-first brands often grow fast, but not deep,” said Akshay D’Souza, a consumer brand consultant, in Outlook Business. “Without strong offline distribution, your burn rate eats you alive. Legacy players like HUL don’t need to discount lipsticks at Re 1 to show growth.”
As of July 2025, Good Glamm is in talks with remaining brand founders to sell off or reabsorb their companies. Its own future hangs in the balance, with a reported Rs 250 crore in liabilities and a fundraising round underway at a 90% cut to its peak valuation, as per Mint.
The Indian market, it turns out, has its own rules. Content may bring traffic, but not all traffic buys. Acquisitions may offer scale, but scale without coherence creates drag. And virality, despite the headlines, is not the same as viability.