The cosmetics industry in India is quite diverse, with domestic and international key players setting the standards high. Over the years, several trends have transformed the market, like the inclination towards vegan cosmetics, color-changing pH-sensitive products, and cosmetics e-commerce stores.
Perhaps that’s why the estimated industry revenue for 2024 is projected to be approximately $6.45 billion, which is a promising number given the global competition and dynamically evolving customer demands.
Even when the competition in the Indian market is fierce, a domestic company named Renee Cosmetics has outsmarted several cosmetic giants and emerged as a promising brand of the modern day. Awarded as Femina Power Brand and CNBC’s Most Trusted Brands in 2021, it has set a revolutionary trend in the entire cosmetics industry.
Unlike other brands, Renee Cosmetics focuses on amalgamating vegan and cruelty-free products in the cosmetics range, thereby creating an evolving trend. Since its launch, the company has witnessed almost 30x growth in its revenue with an estimated 100CR gross merchandise value.
Seeing how Renee Cosmetics has created a groundbreaking trend in the Indian makeup and cosmetics market, we have gathered valuable insights into the brand’s success story.
Below we have explained its launch, founding ideas, funding, revenues, and other details to boost the zeal of every entrepreneur planning to enter this concerned market with innovative ideas.
| Attributes | Details |
| Founder | Aashka Goradia Goble, Priyank Shah, and Ashutosh Valani |
| Year | 2018 |
| Sector | Makeup and Beauty Industry |
| Headquarters | Ahmedabad, Gujarat |
All About Renee Cosmetics Success Story
In this article, we will explore every single piece of information about Renee Cosmetics success story.
Renee Cosmetics Founders and Team
The founding team of Renee Cosmetics comprises three prominent members, Aashka Goradia Goble, Priyank Shah, and Ashutosh Valani. After witnessing rapid success for Beardo, Priyank and Ashutosh joined
Aashka made her idea of changing the perception of cosmetics and makeup in India into a reality. Their zeal and passion led to the birth of Renee Cosmetics in 2018. Together, these three have created a space where customers can rely on the quality and composition of the products, regardless of other variables.
Apart from this, Aashka’s motto to cater to the specific needs of Indian women through innovative makeup and cosmetics products led to the rapid success of the brand despite the fierce market competition from both domestic and international players.
Currently, the company works with a team of 200 dedicated and skilled employees. Apart from this, the founding members have onboarded several other reputed partners to join the brand’s journey and add more value to the success story.
Renee Cosmetics Startup Idea
The founder and director of Renee Cosmetics, Aashka Goradia Goble is a popular face in the Indian television industry while the other two names in the founding father list already owned their brand, Beardo. So, coming together and starting a new brand from scratch might sound to be a bit irrelevant.
However, their motto wasn’t just to make a profitable brand that would provide them a consistent income source. Instead, when asked, Aashka clearly stated in one of her interviews that she wanted to create a brand not just to sell products but to establish a firm belief.
She always loved to experiment with her looks and makeup products. Therefore, it was natural for her to choose this industry as a budding entrepreneur. Her goal was to provide something to the Indian women that would cherish their freedom, natural beauty, and free-spirited nature and that’s how Renee Cosmetics came to life.
The brand is more about using innovative makeup products to create looks that honor the natural Indian skin tone without creating any embarrassing moment for any woman.
Products and Services Offered by Renee Cosmetics
There is no doubt that the makeup and cosmetics market is overcrowded, with brands selling almost the same thing more or less. So, to gain success in tenfold, one would need to look beyond the prejudice and bring innovation and that’s what Renee Cosmetics did.
Rather than focusing on the trends and norms, it focused on launching never-seen products that would match the vibes of the customers while giving them ample opportunities to play around with their looks. This specific thought helped the founders to create a separate customer base which seems to be growing every day.
Whether it’s the black lipstick that takes a color shade depending on the body’s current pH or the Fab 5 lipstick having five different colors in a single setup, Renee Cosmetics has come forth with options that have never been seen in the Indian market.
Furthermore, the newly launched Princess collection in 2022 propelled the growth as it introduced exclusive pre-teen items with thorough dermatological results supporting the claims of being cruelty-free and chemical-free.
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Renee Cosmetics Funding
So far, Renee Cosmetics has raised funding through four rounds since 2021. The total funds collected so far amount to approximately $36.5 million, most of which has been dedicated toward product research and development.
In 2021, the brand received its first investment of $1.5 million from Quiet Capital followed by an investment of $10 million in February 2022 and $25 million in December 2022. Recently, it acquired funding from Evolvence India and Equanimity Investment in February 2023 of which the invested fund amount is not yet disclosed.
Share Holding of Renee Cosmetics
The shareholding of Renee Cosmetics has been distributed proportionately amongst the founders and investors. As of the present time, the founders have a shareholding of 54.6% followed by 30% holding of fund investors.
11.5% shareholding is reserved for enterprise ownership, 3.2% for ESOPs, and the rest 0.7% for angel investors. Further details on the share distribution amongst the three founding members are not yet disclosed.
Competitors of Renee Cosmetics
In India, the competition in the makeup and beauty industry is quite fierce. So many key players have already occupied a great section of the market, which is why the entry position for a new brand is constricted by a huge level.
Yet Renee Cosmetics has been successful in creating its space. Currently, some of its biggest competitors in India are Lakme, Sugar Cosmetics, and Maybelline in terms of product quality, manufacturing quantity, and supply and demand chain.
Challenges Faced by Renee Cosmetics
As the beauty and makeup industry in India is so crowded, it is expected for a novice brand to encounter innumerable challenges from the very beginning.
Furthermore, the customer demands change at lightning speed, which indeed creates a huge hindrance in establishing stability. Renee Cosmetics was not immune to these bottlenecks and it also faced such challenges since its inception.
According to the founding member, Aashka, the biggest learning they had in 2020 was how the market depended on trade windows, especially since procurement from international vendors was given more priority.
Over the years, the brand has undergone several reformations to keep up with the pace of evolution and cater to the audience’s demands in the best possible manner.
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Startup Launch and Strategies of Renee Cosmetics
In the beginning, Renee Cosmetics focused mainly on online channels for their marketing rather than opening physical stores like other brands.
The founders adopted performance marketing strategies to enhance their outreach and acquire more customers.
Furthermore, they also resorted to using celebrity faces to make the claims look more promising and appealing for the target audience.
One of the major facts that set the brand apart from others was the goal of breaking the copy-and-repeat norms in the Indian cosmetic industry and focusing on developing innovative and unique products.
Business Model of Renee Cosmetics
Renee Cosmetics is a digital-only brand till now with sales channels including its website and other popular online marketplaces like Amazon, Purple, and Nykaa. Physical offline stores are yet to be opened in a full-fledged condition.
But according to the interviews, the founding members are already in talks with several vendors to start the preparations of offline stores across all four zones of the country.
You can read more Business Model this
Growth and Revenue Plan of Renee Cosmetics
To offer premium services to its customers through innovation and ground-breaking products, Renee Cosmetics has witnessed a whopping growth of 30x in its revenue.
Furthermore, the gross merchandise value is estimated to be around 100CR in 2022.
Truth be told, the numbers do seem to be promising for the brand given the hypercompetitive and dynamically evolving market. As of 2022, the brand value is estimated to be around $85.1 million and as of 2023, the annual revenue is calculated to be $12.5 million.
Recognition and Achievements of Renee Cosmetics
Renee Cosmetics has been honored with two recognitions in 2021, namely Femina Power Brand and CNBC’s Most Trusted Brands.
Renee Cosmetics Future Plans
Although there is no clear mention of the brand’s plans, the founding members have expressed their desire to tap into the skincare market in India through Renee Cosmetics.
Furthermore, they have also planned to launch premium offline stores across all four zones in the country, thereby expanding their sales and marketing channels.
Conclusion
Renee Cosmetics has revolutionized the cosmetics and makeup industry in India. Having so many key players as its competitors, the journey towards its success was not easy.
And yet through its innovative products and high-quality manufacturing, it was able to secure a huge customer base for itself in just a few years.
So, if you are also a budding entrepreneur and want to create a brand that looks beyond the norms and can gain 10X success in a few years, join Rahul Malodia for his training on investments and startups.
FAQs: Renee Cosmetics Success Story
CA Rahul Malodia is the founder and CEO of Malodia Business Coaching Pvt. Ltd. He is a Business Coach, Mentor & Investor. He has trained over 25,000+ Businessmen across India.
