Varun and Ghazal Alagh: Beauty tycoons with a purpose
Mamaearth's Alaghs are disrupting the personal care industry by making it more personal and extra caring
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Prefer us on GoogleLast Updated: Dec 31, 2021, 11:56 IST3 min
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Five years later, the scale of purpose has become magnified with the scale of business operations. Revenues have leapfrogged from ₹22.19 lakh in FY17 to an astonishing ₹112 crore in FY20. The high-octane drive continues in FY21 as sales cross the ₹500-crore mark. The target for the present fiscal is to double to ₹1,000 crore. “We are well on track to do so," says Alagh, who closed a $50 million funding round in July, led by Belgian investment fund Sofina. The investment valued the brand at $730 million.
Alagh explains the levers of stratospheric growth. From baby care, hair care and skincare, Mamaearth diversified into body care and colour cosmetics. “New categories have pushed sales," he says. Aggressive marketing and advertising, coupled with product diversification, have done wonders. “We are reaching more households across India," he says. While earlier the focus was singularly on the top metros, the brand has been moving deep into Tier II and beyond. What has also helped is the move to have a sizeable presence across modern retail formats.
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Backers are delighted with the growth and vision of the company. What is interesting about Mamaearth, reckons Ishaan Mittal, managing director at Sequoia India, is the fact that they are going after a $20 billion FMCG industry, which has so far been traditional in its outlook and offerings. “No one approached it from a tech-first perspective. Mamaearth changed that," he says. Equally inspiring, Mittal lets on, is their brand purpose—“goodness inside"—which drives everything the company does. “We feel incredibly aligned as a team to founders who have a larger purpose," he says.
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Alagh, for his part, asserts that the brand will always stay true to its purpose-driven mission. “Purpose has to be beyond revenues," he says, adding that Honasa is building a house of brands that get love from consumers and impact the lives of people. The blockbuster listing of Nykaa, he underlines, is a massive boost for new-age beauty and personal care companies in India.
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So what next for Mamaearth? Definitely not an IPO, he clarifies. The company will stay focussed on growth over the next few quarters. “We have brought together personal and care," he signs off.
First Published: Dec 31, 2021, 11:56
Subscribe NowRajiv is based out of Delhi-NCR and writes stories on startups, corporates, entrepreneurs of all kinds, and yes, marketing and advertising world. His 'historic feats' include graduation in history fro
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