New Delhi, June 18 -- French cosmetic giant L'Oreal is set to acquire a majority stake in the beauty and personal care company Innovist, the parent of hair care brand Bare Anatomy and skincare brand Chemist at Play.

L'Oreal termed it a major strategic step in its expansion into India's beauty industry and said that it complements its portfolio with local brands for Indian customers.

Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus called the move "a clear testament to L'Oreal's unwavering commitment" to the firm's expansion in the country.

As per the agreement, the Innovist founding team will continue to hold a minority share in the firm, operating and scaling up the business in collaboration with L'Oreal India, said a statement. L'Oreal has also secured the right to buy out the minority shareholders in full. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few months, subject to regulatory approvals.

Founded in 2019 by Rohit Chawla, Sifat Khurana and Vimal Bhola, Innovist claims to be one of the fastest growing science-led and digital-first personal care companies in the country.

"India is one of the most exciting and fast-evolving beauty markets in the world, and this partnership places us right at the heart of that momentum," the statement quoted Fabrice Megarbane, President of Consumer Products Division, L'Oreal, as saying.

Chawla, CEO and founder of Innovist, said he sees "significant opportunity to build the next generation of beauty brands" with the partnership.

L'Oreal will start consolidating Innovist sales from the date the transaction closes.

A year ago, Innovist had raised Rs 136 crore ($15.8 million) in a Series B round, led by ICICI Venture's maiden venture capital fund. Mirabilis Investment Trust, the family office of Infosys co-founder K Dinesh, and Niveshaay Investment also joined the round as new investors, while existing investor Sauce.VC participated in the fundraise.

The company had hit Rs 299 crore in revenue during FY25, while it had turned EBITDA positive at Rs 3.8 crores, as per VCCEdge, the data intelligence platform of VCCircle.

Valuation estimate

According to media reports, the firm's FY26 revenue was pegged at around Rs 750 crores. Most beauty and personal care brands are valued at 4-5x their revenues.

Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that Innovist was likely valued between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 3,750 crore ($318 million-$398 million) in the L'Oreal transaction.

Companies with higher growth tend to fetch a higher multiple of around 6x. Last year, Hindustan Unilever, the local arm of global FMCG giant Unilever Plc, said it would buy Minimalist at a pre-money enterprise valuation of Rs 2,955 crore ($342 million), which was 6x its sales.

The beauty and personal care segment is witnessing increasing investor interest.

Dealmaking picks up

Pilgrim's fundraising plan comes amidst this. In April, VCCircle reported that D2C skincare brand Pilgrim was in talks to raise $50-60 million in a mix of primary and secondary deals.

VCCircle also reported that mCaffeine was exploring a new funding round, nearly four years after raising Series C capital, and that Pureplay Skin Sciences (India) Pvt Ltd, which operates the Plum brand, was looking to raise $80-100 million, including a secondary component.

RAS Luxury Skincare raised $7.5 million in March in a Series B round led by Dabur Ventures, with participation from Unilever Ventures, while Udaipur-based SkinInspired raised $2.9 million in its Series A round in January, led by Spring Marketing Capital, with participation from Unilever Ventures and Lotus Herbals' Beauty Innovation Fund.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.