A notable investment in haircare has promoted the competitive environment of the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) market in India. Moxie Beauty is a haircare beauty D2C brand with its headquarters in Gurugram that has recently raised $15 million (approximately ₹136.2 crore) in Series A funding. This large capital inflow will accelerate the plans of the company in developing its products, recruiting talents and expanding its channels, strengthening its stand in the fast-growing market of beauty and personal care.
The funding round, Series A, was led by a global investment powerhouse, Bessemer Venture Partners. This is a sign of high institutional confidence in the business model of Moxie Beauty and its ability to disrupt the market, provided by Bessemer as a leader.
Institutional and angel investors also showed a major role in the round, which was a strong signal of the direction the startup is going. The core participants were Mokobara travel accessory brand cofounders, Navin Parwal and Sangeet Agarwal, who participated in the round. Another strategic assistance was provided by the Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Greater China and North Asia of Reckitt, Arjun Purkayastha.
Besides these new investors, Moxie Beauty experienced continued belief by its current investors. An existing investor, Fireside Ventures, was an investor in the Series A, together with individual investors (Shantanu Deshpande), (Suhasini Sampath) and (Rohit Kapoor), among others. The combination of new, high-profile institutional capital and the continuous support of the current partners preconditions Moxie Beauty to enter a new stage of growth.
Moxie Beauty has expressed a proper plan on how to utilize the newly funded $15 million in the shortest term. The capital will also be largely used in product innovation and research. This investment is expected to drive the creation of new products and the improvement of the current formulas, and continue its orientation on meeting the needs of certain hair requirements.
The capital will be used to ensure that the startup is in a position to increase its distribution channels. The growth will play a crucial role in expanding the reach of the brand among the huge Indian consumer market and making its products more available to a wider audience.
Nikita Khanna and Anmol Ahlawat co-founded Moxie Beauty and started its operations in November 2023. The main idea behind the brand is to provide a selective set of haircare products that were uniquely designed to match the requirements and feel of Indian hair.
The existing product portfolio is strong, and it includes 19 different products. The collection consists of daily essentials (shampoo and conditioner) and other styling products. The brand focuses on the solutions that assist the customers to address some of the typical problems that are common in the Indian climate, like dryness and frizz.
Moxie Beauty has embraced the model of a diversified, omnichannel system of distribution in order to access its target consumers. Besides the direct sales through its own online store, the products can be found on such large e-commerce platforms as Nykaa and Amazon. Having realized the growing consumer need to be faster and more convenient, the brand has established strategic alliances with rapid commerce applications like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, and Zepto.
Since its inception, the D2C haircare brand has experienced phenomenal growth. Moxie Beauty boasts of having crossed ₹100 crore in its Annual Run Rate (ARR) in a matter of two years since it entered the market. The firm claims that it recorded a remarkable 4X revenue growth during the last year, that is, since November 2024.
The Gurugram-based startup had earlier, in July of the previous year, raised ₹17.3 crore (approximately $2.1 million) in a seed financing round before obtaining the huge Series A funding. This seed round leads to a $15 million Series A round illustrates a fast track and scalability rate of the brand.
Headquartered in the Delhi NCR-based area, Moxie Beauty competes with several new and old entrants in the field of beauty and personal care. Its competitive landscape comprises both D2C startups such as Arata and Traya and the huge and well-established corporate brands within the segment, such as Hindustan Unilever, among others.
The substantial investment in Moxie Beauty, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, represents the hope of investors in the long-term sustainability and expansion prospects of D2C brands that exhibit high unit economics and evident product-market fit. With this $15 million helping the company refocus on innovation, talent and distribution, the company can take advantage of the long-lasting consumer shift to specialized online beauty and personal care products and cement itself as a major player in the dynamic D2C ecosystems in India.