Are you also a Sugar addicted?
I am not talking about “Chini”, I am referring to Sugar Cosmetics!
We all have seen the startup boosting and encouraging capital raising show on TV, “Shark Tank India”. India’s one of the top most watched shows mainly by youngsters.
One of the Shark among the five is the owner of this cosmetic giant, she is “Vineeta Singh”
So let’s know the story about “Sugar Cosmetic”.
In the generation where people are more focused on their beauty, skin care, wellness cosmetics and beauty products industry is boosting with emerging tech based startups entering into the marketplace.
In the past few years, Sugar, Nykaa, Plum, Purplle are some of the top cosmetic brands in India who have gained a lot of popularity and success.
History of Sugar
Sugar Cosmetics was founded in 2015 by Indian Shark Investor Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee. The company is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company offers high quality and variety of beauty products in different ranges. The company operates through various mediums and offers products through Ecommerce platforms and retail stores. The company has a parent company Vellvette Lifestyle.
Tagline
“Rule The World, One Look At a TIme!!”
With this tagline Sugar is building itself one of the most popular Millennial’s brands of India.
Founder’s Wall
The founder of the Sugar, Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee are well known personalities.
Vineeta Singh
- Vineet is the co-founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics.
- She is IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad graduated
- Vineeta is among the five shark of the most popular reality show “Shark Tank India”
- She has invested in many growing startups through the show.
Kaushik Mukherjee
- Kaushik is also a CEO and Co-founder of Sugar.
- He graduated from IIM Ahmedabad.
- He is a well known Tedx speaker.
- Apart from being a business partner, he is Vineeta’s husband as well.
Mission and Vision of the company
Every company has a long term vision to expand its operations on a large scale, grow revenue and EBITA, increase its customer base, and provide the best services to its customers.
“We believe in every interpretation of beauty. Bold to subdued, quirky to crazy, every day to glam goddess! We aim to celebrate every aspect of you, no matter what your style is. SO, go ahead and pick your faves” with this mission statement, Sugar Cosmetics aims at creating a high quality cosmetic company for the customers.
Financials
Sugar cosmetics has shown a tremendous growth in revenue on YoY basis. Sugar cosmetics has reported revenue of Rs. 126 crore in F.Y 2021 higher than 84 crore from the previous year revenue Rs. 220 crore in F.Y 2022. It is around 74% increase in percentage terms.
The revenue includes from all the e-commerce platforms, Sugar official sites and retail stores.
Despite the significant growth in revenue, the company ended the F.Y 22 with a loss of around Rs.75 crore. The major expenses include advertisements, support services, and labor charges.
Funding rounds
The company has raised capital through six different capital rounds. In total, in this round, the company has raised $87.5 million in capital.
- The first round was conducted in 2017, where company has raised $2.5 millions from India Quotient, RB Investments
- Round 2 conducted in 2019, raised $12 millions from A91 Partners, Anicut Capital, India Quotient.
- In 2020, the company raised $21 million in its third round of funding.
- In the same 2020, the company raised funds through debt financing for $2 millions.
- In 2022, the company raised $50 million from L Catterton.
Acquisition
The company has acquired ENN Beauty in 2022. ENN is India’s natural herbal Makeup company. The company aims at words “In harmony with nature & YOU!.
Products
The company offers a wide range of beauty and wellness products.
Skin Care products which include masks, cleaning water, and moisturizer.
Makeup Products include Lipstick, Eyes products, Face products.
Business Strategy
Creating a brand requires a business strategy that helps it outperform other rivals and stand out as a market leader. Sugar as a cosmetic brand, has used some successful business strategies that lead it to make it a successful brand.
Studying Consumer review
Knowing what your customer needs and requires can help you to offer the products as per their specifications. The CEO had themselves read the customer’s review about their products and website. This helped sugar improve its performance.
Social Media
Spending on social media has given Sugar a large customer base. Sugar has more than 4 billion views per year on its owned media.
Going omnichannel
Playing only in the D2C market may not have made Sugar a large brand. That’s what Sugar has done by entering the retail market.
Challenges
Covid-19 pandemic has created an obstacle for Sugar. The company had made a loss of Rs. 5 crore in 1st quarter of F.Y 21. The company plans to hit the desired revenue.
The company has also faced challenges in arranging the distribution and securing funds.
In Spite of all these challenges, the team was able to make the company stand out in the tough times and make the brand a top cosmetic brand of India.
Future Plans
The company along with the plans to expand its business operations both in physical stores and online reach also aims to get the company listed. Though the plan has not been announced by the company, the valuation and fund raised will help the company to be closer to the goal of going public. The CEO also aims at creating a women majority by employing more than 1000 women in the company.
Company also intends to increase its reach in the omnichannel to grow the distribution channel in the country.
Competitors
Sugar has a tough competition in the market as many large players who are much bigger than Sugar are there in the market. Nykaa, Plum, Purplle, Mamaearth are the major players in the industry. Two of them are even the unicorn startup of the industry, Nykaa and Purplle. Despite such competition SUgar is playing well and showing a significant growth in revenue on YoY basis. Nykaa being a listed company has some edge over Sugar which makes Sugar a back of Nykaa in market terms.
Conclusion
Sugar continuously aims at creating the Brand India’s leading beauty products and cosmetics products company. The company has major competitors in the market which creates tough competition in the industry. An Experienced company team will help the company to grow and achieve its goal of getting public and standing out in the competition. Sugar has also gained popularity after shark tank india season 1 as many youngsters came to know about the brand and Founders of the company.
Disclaimer: Above article is for your information purpose, we do not promote any brand, product or service through this article.
