Plum raises $35 million in Series C round led by A91 Partners
National, March 23, 2022 Plum – India’s leading, 100% vegan, cruelty-free & toxin-free beauty brand has raised $35 million (INR 270 crores) in a Series C round led by A91 Partners – a leading late stage-focused venture capital fund. The round also saw participation from existing investors Unilever Ventures and Faering Capital. To date, Plum has raised over $50 million from consumer-focused institutional investors, which portends its future growth as the category leader in the new-age, D2C beauty space. Pursuant to the transaction, Abhay Pandey from A91 Partners will join the board of Plum.
Since its first funding round in late 2018, Plum has grown 15x, driven by a strong leadership & investor team focused on building value for – People, the Planet, and Profit-sharing participants. It continues to be one of the fastest-growing brands in the new-age beauty space, thanks to its high-quality product lines, lovable brand personality and strong omni-channel presence. Not only is it among the top brands on key eCommerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, and Purplle, but the brand also is today available in over 250 towns and cities in India, through nearly 1,000 assisted retail outlets, and over 10,000 unassisted outlets – growing month-on-month. Recently, the brand roped in millennial sensation Mithila Palkar as a brand ambassador and also won the Best Vegan Cosmetics award at the PETA India’s Vegan Fashion Awards.
The fresh capital is expected to add momentum to Plum’s gameplan of further strengthening its omni-channel presence, building new categories in addition to its core skin care category, enhancing R&D capabilities, and onboarding high-quality talent with a focus on investments in marketing and technology. The brand today has wide acceptance across channels and categories – skin, hair, body, men’s care, and now makeup, reinforcing its potential for dominance in a rapidly growing market for clean beauty products. At a current ARR of INR 225+ crores on a net revenue basis, Plum’s goal is to double that number over the next 12 months.
On the fundraising, Shankar Prasad, CEO and Founder, Plum said, “A91 Partners are passionate cheerleaders of the Indian consumer story, and we are delighted to have them join us on our quest to build scale with a difference. The A91 team’s track record of picking winning consumer brands and partnering with them on their growth journeys is impressive. Equally gratifying is the re-affirmation of confidence from both our existing investors, Unilever Ventures & Faering Capital – both strong backers of consumer businesses. The latest investment will help us accelerate on our exciting growth path, not only in our core skincare category, but also in adjacent large categories like hair care, makeup, body care and specialist care for men. In doing so, we want to bring alive our brand ethos of ‘being good’ in as many different and delightful ways as possible.”
Abhay Pandey, General Partner, A91 Partners said, “Plum’s relentless focus on product and brand in a noisy space of new age consumer brands positions it uniquely to build an enduring business and A91 is privileged to be a partner in this journey.”
Sameer Shroff, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Faering Capital said, “Since our initial investment over a year ago, Plum has demonstrated strong growth across all its categories, channels, and most importantly its loyal customer base. We are delighted to strengthen our partnership as Shankar and team build one of the best clean-beauty brands in the country.” Spark Capital advised Plum on the transaction.
