E-commerce startup for beauty and personal care products BuyEazzy focusing on Tier II and beyond towns has raised $4.25 million Series A funding round led by Info Edge Ventures with participation from existing investors Incubate Fund Asia and M Venture Partners.
Announcing the fundraising in a statement, the startup said it will deploy the capital to expand its presence to over 40 cities and onboard more than 2 million offline users. It is currently operational in 10 Tier II and III cities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
“The Indian beauty and personal care market is growing fast. Consumers in smaller cities and towns in India aspire for access to Indian, international and regional brands at the right price points and timely delivery. However, these smaller cities and towns are underserved by the unorganized offline retail and large e-commerce incumbents,” said Kitty Agarwal, Partner, Info Edge Ventures.
Founded in May 2021 by Rahul Aggarwal and Hariher B, Mysore-based BuyEazzy said the e-commerce penetration for beauty in these regions is less than 5 per cent primarily because of the trust deficit between online platforms and offline users, long delivery times, and product authenticity and quality issues.
“Even in a city like Mysore, users have to visit four to five shops to buy their preferred hair colour or skincare product due to lack of assortment and frequent stock-outs at physical retail outlets,” said Hariher B, Co-founder & COO, BuyEazzy.
By disrupting the supply chain, BuyEazzy is building a unique win-win ecosystem, where manufacturers/ brands get access to remote markets and online distribution, neighbourhood stores can grow their current income by 40-50 per cent and offline users get access to a wider assortment, best prices and convenience of online shopping, he said.
The startup’s last fundraise was $1 million in August 2022. The latest round takes its total funding to around $5.5 million.
India’s beauty and personal care market is projected to generate a revenue of $31.51 billion in 2024 and grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3 per cent till 2028, as per data platform Statista. The largest segment within this market is the personal care segment, which is estimated to have a market volume of $14.31 billion in 2024.
In India, the per person revenue generated in the beauty and personal care market is approximately $21.86 in 2024, based on the total population figures. The country was ranked fourth globally for generating the highest revenue from the beauty and personal care market in 2022, as per Statista.