L Catterton leads Series D for India beauty player Sugar Cosmetics

The GP led a USD 50m Series D round that also featured A91 Partners, Elevation Capital, and India Quotient. According to AVCJ Research, Sugar was backed by India Quotient in 2013 and RB Investments in 2017. A91 committed about USD 10m in 2019 and then re-upped in a USD 21m Series C last year led by Elevation. The company also received debt funding from Stride Ventures.

Sugar’s product range, which is aimed at millennial and generation Z consumers, covers the lips, eyes, face, nails, and skin categories. Working out of manufacturing facilities in India, Korea, Germany, Italy, and the US, it focuses on creating products that match every Indian skin tone.

Sales are said to have more than quadrupled in the past three years through a combination of content marketing, the cultivation of e-commerce channels, and the construction of an offline network comprising general and modern trade stores. It currently has a physical presence in more than 40,000 retail outlets across 550 cities.

L Catterton will leverage its expertise in consumer brands and relationship with LVMH to drive Sugar’s continued growth. The consumer-focused private equity firm has previously invested in beauty companies throughout Asia, including Etvos in Japan, Dr. Wu in Taiwan, Clio Cosmetics in Korea, Marubi in mainland China, and Social Bella in Indonesia.

“With a product-first mindset and deep understanding of their target consumers, Sugar’s leadership team has established a strong position in India’s cosmetics market, which is at an exciting inflection point of expansion, said Anjana Sasidharan, a managing director at L Catterton, in a statement.

The private equity firm noted that India’s beauty and personal care industry has grown rapidly in the past five years and is expected to be worth around USD 21bn by 2025. Rising adoption of online shopping and greater product penetration in secondary cities are key contributing factors.

Attracted by these strong fundamentals, investors are pouring capital into the space. Many targets are direct-to-consumer (D2C) players, including beauty e-commerce marketplaces that leverage their data and product knowledge to develop private label brands that resonate with locals. Establishing offline distribution footprints and expanding product portfolios by acquiring smaller brands are consistent themes.

In the past eight months alone, Nykaa completed an INR 53.5bn (USD 719m) domestic IPO, Good Glamm Group – operator of MyGlamm – achieved unicorn status on closing a USD 150m Series D, and Purplle received a USD 75m Series E at a valuation of USD 630m. The likes of Plum and mCaffeine have also received funding.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• Expansion
• India
• Growth capital
• L Catterton
• Elevation Capital
• A91 Partners