Beauty retailer Nykaa has raised $14.49 million (about `100 crore) from Singapore-based TPG Growth IV SF, valuing the Mumbai-based firm at an estimated $724 million, according to documents sourced from business signals platform, paper.vc.
Nykaa posted about 166% jump in revenue to Rs 570 crore in the year to March 2018. Although the firm continued to post losses, the number narrowed to Rs 28.2 crore in FY18 compared to losses of `36.3 crore reported in FY17.
“Nykaa appears to be on track to joining Asia’s unicorn ranks. The raise comes after a long hiatus in institutional investment in the cosmetics platform,” said Vivek Durai, co-founder at paper.vc.
Nykaa’s earlier backers include Sunil Kant Munjal, TVS Shriram Growth Fund and a host of smaller angel investors such as corporate lawyer Zia Mody.
In an interview to FE last year, founder and CEO Falguni Nayar had said the firm that sells cosmetic products both online and offline is expected to turn profitable in FY19. Nayar had said the firm could cut down on its losses due to a reduction in marketing cost, including cost of customer acquisition.