Falguni Nayar: The Face Behind The Nykaa Success Story

Nykaa is a Mumbai based multi-brand beauty retailer selling cosmetic and wellness products. Nykaa was founded by Falguni Nayar as an online retailer in April 2012. Nykaa.com is the entrepreneurial dream of Falguni Nayar, the former managing Director Of Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, India’s leading investment bank. Nykaa has emerged as the largest beauty destination in India. Customers not only depend on them for their favorite brands but also for, skincare, hair care, and videos.

The company has received multiple rounds of funding to raise money. In July 2014, it raised Rs 20 crore as funding from private investors and raised around Rs60 crore in Series B funding in October 2015 led by TVS Capital. It raised a third round of funding from Max I India of about Rs 104 crores.

Nykaa has created a sweet spot for itself. It has seen three-fold growth in its customer base. It also has a repeat customer base of nearly 50%. Its monthly orders jumped from 120,000 in August 2016 to 400,000 in August 2017. It expects to touch 700,000 this August.

Nykaa is an eCommerce website offering beauty and wellness products from top leading brands. Nykaa follows inventory based model with warehouses in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bangalore. It claims to have over 850+ brands and 35,000 products. Nykaa also has two offline store formats that are Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa On trend.

The Luxe format features Indian and International luxury beauty brands and in-house collection of beauty products. Nykaa On Trend format is a completely new format in the market in which products are curated by the popularity of their category.

With almost 850+ curated, well priced and 100% genuine brands and 1 lakh products, Nykaa prides itself for offering a comprehensive selection of luxury and wellness products for women and men. Nykaa, the 200-crore-plus empire employs 230 people and is eyeing a bigger turnover by the end of 2019.

Nykaa is one of the forerunners in the online beauty products category. It looks forward to providing a human connection and a trustworthy experience online because of beauty retailing works on a couple of assumptions.

The company is looking to double its revenue to around Rs 1,100 crore by this year end as it is bringing in new brands. The company, which at present has 22 outlets across the country, is looking at opening 180-200 Nykaa stores in the next 4-5 years. The firm’s objective behind a robust bet on physical retail is to become an omnichannel destination for the beauty and skincare segment.