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Purple Style Labs (PSL), owner of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop, which calls itself as one of India’s largest omnichannel luxury fashion e-commerce platforms, has raised $10 million in Series B-funding from actor Madhuri Dixit Nene and a group of investors including Akash Bhansali, director, Enam Holdings.
PSL, that acquired Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop in 2018, after which designer Pernia Qureshi stepped down as the Creative Head of the platform, has achieved a 50X growth in the last four years. PSL’s current growth plans and projections include achieving Rs 750 crore gross sales in ongoing FY 22-23. The company recorded gross sales of Rs 260 crore in FY 21-22.
“Current run rate is Rs 500 crore gross sales already as per Apr-Jun, which is usually the lowest quarter in the cycle. So Rs 700-750 crore gross sale in current FY is achievable and will be almost 3x over last FY,” said Abhishek Agarwal, founder, PSL. The company raised $15 million between 2015-21.
Besides Dixit and Bhansali, the Series B- funding saw participation from renowned investors and industry veterans such as Navroz Udwadia (co-founder, Alpha Wave Global), Yuj Ventures/Sid Yog (founder, Xander Group), Rahul Garg (partner, Premji Invest), Mukul Agrawal (founder, Param Capital), Rahul Kayan (Director, SMIFS Ltd), Girish Kulkarni (Suyash Advisors), Harminder Sahni (Wazir Advisors), Rishi Vasudev (co-Founder, G.O.A.T. Brand Labs), Vineet Gautam (CEO, Bestseller India) and Sumit Jalan.
Madhuri Dixit Nene said: “India has always had a rich history in culture, and this has constantly seeped into the fashion industry. This thought has been brought into the forefront by Purple Style Labs as they have given a new meaning and outlook to India’s luxury fashion industry. Their biggest asset is recognising Indian designers and giving them an international platform to be discovered.”
Agarwal, who is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and has worked with Deutsche Bank before turning entrepreneur, said that 75 per cent of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop’s (PPUS) online sales come from international markets. The omnichannel platform currently retails over 800 Indian designer brands, including top designers such as Tarun Tahiliani, Anita Dongre, Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Aggarwal, Masaba and Anushree Reddy amongst others.
Agarwal added that it was his personal interest in luxury fashion along with an opportunity that led to the inception of Purple Style Labs.
“While most Indian designers have been able to build strong brand equity with consumers, they have been unable to make it commercially viable and scale up to becoming a large business. Sensing this opportunity in the industry, combined with a personal interest in luxury fashion led to the inception of Purple Style Labs. Hence, our thesis since inception has been to build an Indian luxury fashion house, which takes Indian-origin designers to a global scale,” he said.
PSL has opened 10 Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio experience centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and an international store in London. It has also launched a new vertical for multi-designer men’s clothing and accessories and has opened two stores in Mumbai namely Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio for Men; and is in the process of launching its next menswear store in Ahmedabad.
PSL acquired the fashion label ‘Wendell Rodricks’ in December 2020 and expects to scale it to Rs 100 crore brand in the next three years. Since acquisition, three stores for Wendell Rodricks have already opened in Mumbai.
The company is currently expanding its existing footprint in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, along with opening in new cities such as Chennai and Surat. PSL further plans to expand in international markets, with retail stores in New York and Dubai within the next 12-18 months.
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