At the Chindia TMT Dialogue Conference 2017 in Beijing last week, AllChinaTech interviewed some of the hottest startups in India. Here is the story of Purplle:
Purplle
Founded in: 2011
Co-founder: Rahul Dash
Financing status: Series B financing
Purplle focuses on discovery in beauty. The company started as an online shopping platform focused on cosmetics, fragrances, and skin and hair care products.
Over time, the startup evolved to see more elements added to its business. “What we have done over the years is we have developed a beauty specific IP, which means we have mapped what a lot of Indians do to their skin and hair” Rahul Dash, Purplle co-founder told AllChinaTech.
The startup uses technology to power beauty recommendations, giving users better results when they search about cosmetics and beauty related topics. Its users can even talk to an online beauty adviser.
Typical Purplle users are aged from 20 to 28, especially those who do not know what kind of cosmetic products they intend to consume, or do not have access to those brands in their particular city.
Compared to traditional salons or similar makeup locations, Purplle has more brands and products than a stylist in a salon can offer. So far it has worked with 615 brands, according to Dash.
The Indian beauty market sizes up at USD 10 billion now; the online beauty market is just 1% of this but it is increasing quickly, according to Dash. Domestically, the startup has an Indian competitor, Nykaa. For the moment, Purplle the app has 1.25 million registered users. Over the past 10 months, it has selected beauty profiles for 250,000 users.
(Top photo from Pixabay.com)