Juicy Chemistry, a Coimbatore-based cruelty-free personal care brand, has raised $6.3 million in a Series ‘A’ funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest. According to a press statement, this marks the largest Series ‘A’ raise in the D2C (direct to consumer) beauty and personal care space. Veda Corporate Advisors was the exclusive financial advisor for the transaction.
Founded in 2014 by husband-wife duo, Pritesh Asher and Megha Desai Asher, Juicy Chemistry offers a complete range of certified organic products across the face, body, and hair care segments, formulated with organic ingredients sourced from around the world. A majority of its products are vegan, except a few such as lip balms.
Juicy Chemistry co-founder and CEO Pritesh Asher said, “It is an incredibly exciting time for us. The investment will enable Juicy Chemistry further strengthen its position as a leader in the clean and organic beauty segment.”
”We are keen to leverage this capital for the rapid expansion of Juicy Chemistry thriving e-commerce platform and omnichannel distribution capabilities to reach new and existing geographies, to hire talent, for brand-building, and to cater to the increasing demand for products both domestically and in the international market, he added.
Boot-strapped until 2019, the firm raised an Angel round from Amit Nanavati, which gave the much-needed resource to scale operations. Juicy Chemistry has seen a 300% jump in revenue this fiscal year with a growing customer base.
“Our colleagues at Juicy Chemistry have been the pillar of strength, and their sheer commitment and dedication to the brand have made this possible. It’s a privileged position for us to be in as this new round of funding from the strongest purpose-led, consumer-focused investor will tremendously accelerate our expansion plans and help us penetrate the market deeper and reach more consumers to spread the message of organic beauty care,” Megha Asher, the company COO, said.
We are excited to start our journey with Juicy Chemistry, which forms part of our global effort in backing unique digital-first beauty brands for the long term. We are impressed with Pritesh & Meghan’s passion to create high-quality, organic-certified beauty products and the customer love they have received,” said Verlinvest Executive Director Arjun Anand.
”Verlinvest looks for authentic and passionate entrepreneurs who are creating a consumer revolution using their product and brand stores and we saw like-mindedness with the way Pritesh and Megha are building their business,” he said.
Founded in 1995, Verlinvest is a private Belgian family investment firm of the founding families of Anheuser-Busch InBev said to be the world’s largest beer company.
Due to their growing popularity amongst consumers, vegan and organic personal care brands have been attracting a lot of investor interest in the past few months. Companies such as Bare Anatomy, Plum and Arata have raised investments in the recent past, and are constantly diversifying their range of products.
