Purple Style Labs PSL owner of Pernia s Pop-Up Shop, which calls itself one of India's largest omnichannel luxury fashion e-commerce platforms, has raised $10 million in Series B funding from the actor Madhuri Dixit Nene and a group of investors including Akash Bhansali, director, Enam Holdings.
The PSL that acquired Pernia's Pop-Up Shop in 2018, after which designer Pernia Qureshi stepped down as Creative Head of the platform, has achieved a 50 X growth over the last four years. PSL's current growth plans and projections include Rs 750 crore gross sales in FY 22 -- 23. In FY 21 -- 22 the company recorded gross sales of Rs 260 crore.
The current run rate is Rs 500 crore gross sales already as per April-Jun, which is usually the lowest quarter in the cycle. Abhishek Agarwal, founder of PSL, said that the gross sale of Rs 700-750 crore in current FY is achievable and will be almost 3 x more than last FY. Between 2015 and 21 the company raised $15 million.
Besides Dixit and Bhansali, the Series B funding included participation from renowned investors and industry veterans such as Navroz Udwadia co-founder, Alpha Wave Global Yuj Ventures Sid Yog founder, Xander Group Rahul Agrawal founder, SMIFS Ltd Girish Kulkarni Suyash Advisors Harminder Sahni Wazir Advisors Rishi Vasudev co-founder, G.O. Brand Labs Vineet Gautam CEO, Bestseller India and Sumit Jalan.
Madhuri Dixit Nene said that India has always had a rich history in culture, and this has always seenp into the fashion industry. Purple Style Labs have brought a new meaning and outlook to India's luxury fashion industry by bringing this thought into the forefront. Their biggest asset is recognising Indian designers and giving them an international platform to be discovered. Agarwal, who was an alumnus of IIT Bombay and worked with Deutsche Bank before becoming an entrepreneur, said that 75 per cent of Pernia's Pop-Up Shops PPUS online sales come from international markets. The omnichannel platform currently retails over 800 Indian designer brands, including Tarun Tahiliani, Anita Dongre, Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Aggarwal, Masaba and Anushree Reddy, amongst others.
Agarwal said that it was his personal interest in luxury fashion and the 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 become a large business. The idea of Purple Style Labs was inspired by the opportunity in the industry, coupled with a personal interest in luxury fashion. Since its inception, our thesis has been to build an Indian luxury fashion house, which takes Indian-origin designers to a global scale, he said.
PSL 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 about to launch its next menswear store in Ahmedabad.
PSL acquired Wendell Rodricks in December 2020 and expects to scale it to a 100 crore brand in the next three years. Three stores for Wendell Rodricks have opened in Mumbai since the acquisition.
The company is expanding its existing footprint in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, along with opening new cities such as Chennai and Surat. PSL intends to expand in international markets, with retail stores in New York and Dubai within the next 12 -- 18 months.