SUGAR Cosmetics Raises Rs 144.5 Crore at a Sharply Lower Rs 755 Crore Valuation, as Early Investors Seek Steep Discount Exits
Mumbai-based D2C beauty brand SUGAR Cosmetics has raised Rs 144.5 crore from existing investor A91 Partners, according to regulatory filings, in a round that comes with a dramatic valuation reset and a wave of early investors now looking to exit at steep discounts.
Here's the number that tells the real story. The board approved allotting 1,12,248 Series CCPS at Rs 12,871 per share, with A91 Partners subscribing to the entire issue. Based on this allotment, the transaction values SUGAR at approximately Rs 755 crore post-money, a nearly 75% markdown from its peak valuation of around Rs 3,000 crore. A91 will now hold close to 19.97% of the company following this round.
Here's how sharp that fall really is. SUGAR was last valued at roughly $400 million, about Rs 3,000 crore, back in 2022, when it raised $50 million in a Series D round led by L Catterton and was aggressively expanding its offline retail footprint. By November 2024, that valuation had already slipped to the Rs 2,600-2,700 crore range in a smaller Rs 38 crore round from existing backers. This latest round takes it down even further.
The business fundamentals explain why. SUGAR's revenue declined 20% to Rs 404 crore in FY25, down from Rs 505 crore in FY24, while its net loss nearly doubled to Rs 135 crore from Rs 68 crore, and EBITDA losses more than doubled to Rs 116 crore from Rs 48.5 crore in the same period. Reports also suggest the company had to shut nearly 30-40% of the physical stores it had opened, after losses at the store level made the aggressive offline push unsustainable.
Founded in 2015 by Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, SUGAR built its early reputation as an online-first, youth-focused beauty brand before pushing hard into physical retail. It now operates four brands, SUGAR, POP, ENN and Quench Botanics, competing directly with Nykaa, Mamaearth and Renee Cosmetics in India's increasingly crowded D2C beauty space.
From a Rs 3,000 crore high in 2022 to a Rs 755 crore reset in 2026, SUGAR's fundraise is a sobering reminder that D2C beauty's easy-growth era has given way to a much harder reckoning on unit economics.
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— Sandeep Raiza