Beauty platform Purplle’s attempts to woo customers in Tier II and III cities, as well as a surge in its portfolio brands, seem to be working in its favour. The unicorn recorded a 43% year-on-year growth in operational revenue, reaching Rs 680 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2024, as compared to Rs 475 crore in FY23.
The Goldman Sachs-backed firm saw its losses shrink by 46% to Rs 124 crore compared to Rs 230 crore from the previous year.
With an increasing number of offline stores and a rise in its private labels such as Good Vibes and Faces Canada, the company in July said that it was operationally profitable.
Purplle witnessed a 42% increase in total income in FY24, climbing to Rs 725 crore compared with Rs 509 crore earned in the previous year, financial statements filed by the company showed.
The company’s total expenses surged to Rs 850 crore in FY24, marking a 15% increase from the Rs 738 crore spent in FY23, driven by higher costs in materials, IT, secondary packaging expenses, legal professional charges, and other miscellaneous costs.
The startup’s employee benefit expenses saw a 12% increase to Rs 191 crore compared with Rs 170 crore in the corresponding period last year.
In July, Purplle raised Rs 1,000 crore in a funding round led by a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), along with other participating investors.
The firm launched an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) liquidity program, offering Rs 50 crore to its employees. So far, 320 employees have been granted ESOPs, with 85 of them cashing out a total of Rs 75 crore through three buyback programmes.
Purplle witnessed a 4X increase in its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the past three years. GMV represents the total revenue generated from sales through a marketplace within a specific period.
