Abu Dhabi Investment Authority increases stake in Purplle by leading Rs 1,000-crore round

Founded by IIT Delhi alumnus Taneja, and IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Rahul Dash in 2012, Purplle runs a beauty and personal care e-commerce platform.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has bought more shares in Purplle, an online retailer of beauty and personal care products, and increased ownership by leading a Rs 1,000-crore (around $120 million) round, the companies said on July 1.

Of the total Rs 1,000 crore, around 70 percent was in the form of secondaries where ADIA and other investors bought shares in the ecommerce company from early backers. IvyCap, Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and others are some of the early investors of Purplle.

As part of the secondaries, 85 employees have liquidated ESOPs worth Rs 75 crore over three buyback programs. Purplle has granted ESOPs to 320 employees up to date and has over 4,000 staffers.

The remaining bit was in the form of primary capital, Moneycontrol has learnt.

In a secondary round, existing investors typically sell shares to incoming investors and the money does not go directly into the company’s coffers. For Purplle, this is yet another secondary round where early backers are making way for new investors.

Last year, JSW Ventures sold shares to ADIA and Manipal Hospital’s Ranjan Pai. It made a complete exit and earned 18X on its initial investments, as reported earlier.

“In increasing its shareholding in Purplle, ADIA has continued to support us as we pursue our vision of building a sustainable and profitable business,” Manish Taneja, Co-Founder & CEO at Purplle said in a prepared statement.

Purplle competes with the likes of BSE-listed Nykaa and others. It claims to have grown its gross merchandise value (GMV) by around 4x over the last three years, but did not provide exact numbers.

The company serves the beauty needs of customers in tier 2/3+ micro-markets, expanding beyond metro cities. Purplle is operationally profitable and expects to grow its online platform faster than the industry while scaling offline stores and improving profitability, the company said.

“It is our mission to democratise beauty and make it accessible to all, and while we have reached many beauty enthusiasts across India, we still have a long way to go. We will constantly innovate and leverage our technology and data capabilities to provide our customers with the best omnichannel experience,” Taneja concluded.