Blog

Mumbai-based skincare startup Minimalist recently raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia India along with participation from Unilever Ventures.

The funds will be utilised for strengthening R&D, ramping up infrastructure and global expansion, says Mohit Yadav, Co-founder, Minimalist in a chat with YourStory’s Priya Sheth for Daily Dispatch.

“Right now, Minimalist is only available in India, but in the next 6-12 months, the plan is to venture into international markets, starting with South Asia,” says Mohit.

Commenting on Unilever Ventures’ participation, Mohit says being a global capital, it brings in a lot of strategic values to the company besides the financial aspect.

Minimalist currently has 20 products on their portfolio including serums, moisturisers, toners, etc. and most of their products are market agnostic. “Expansion for us in that sense is easier because the products are not suited for one particular region or a set of people,” says Mohit.

He shares that Minimalist is an online-first brand, and that is how they started in India. The brand partnered with several leading online marketplaces such as Amazon, Nykaa and others.

“Any new market that we are looking at right now, we will start with the leading online marketplaces in the region, and then gradually get into offline retail,” he says.

The brand has big plans for the next three to five years – starting from general trade to modern trade to their own retail channel, but all of it will happen in a phased manner. The first step would be to partner with good chains, says Mohit, adding, “in India, we are about to start our own retail through Nykaa.”

He goes on to add that in nine months, the company saw exceptional growth, and served about a million customers. “More than the numbers, what excites us is the way people responded to the brand,” he remarks. The company is currently at a run rate of Rs 100 crore and plans to scale that up to Rs 200 crore by the end of FY22.

Minimalist presently caters to a relatively small segment of consumer requirements. Thus, the plan for the next six months is to expand the portfolio to have a wider range of products across the skincare category.

“We then want to gradually move towards more categories so that we can offer an entire suit of personal care products,” concludes Mohit.