Reckitt Benckiser, the British global consumer goods company, has invested Rs 45 Cr in Bombay Shaving Company’s parent company Visage Lines Personal Care(Pvt. Ltd.).
With the new investment, Reckitt Benckiser’s Senior VP Arjun Purkayastha, will join the board of Visage Lines Personal Care.
Apart from the consumer goods giant, High net-worth individuals such as Rajesh Sud from Bharti Enterprises, Anjali Bansal, founder of Avaana Capital, and Kuldeep Jain, Managing Director of CleanMax Energy Enviro Energy Solutions also participated in the round.
The firm which launched in 2016 had also raised funds from Colgate-Palmolive in 2018.
The recent investment is the fifth round of financing for the company counting Sixth Sense Venture Partners, Colgate Palmolive Asia Pacific Ltd., and noted Industry individuals like S Ramadorai, former VC of Tata Consultancy Services, along with 16 senior partners from McKinsey & Company as investors.
On the recent funding, Shantanu Deshpande, the founder & CEO of Visage Lines said, “Reckitt Benckiser is a diamond addition to our journey. They have an excellent record in building health and wellness brands over their 200-years heritage. Working in partnership, our young team is ambitious for what we can achieve together and scale our operations with an omnichannel presence.”
Bombay Shaving Company’s plan on recent investment
Through the recent investment, the Bombay Shaving Company is planning to scale its operations, improve offline distribution and presence, increase the omni-channel presence and develop Research & Development capabilities and launch more brands.
Currently, 75% of revenue for the Bombay Shaving Company comes from online channels i.e. its own platform and marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon. “If we want to grow into a larger brand, we have to go offline”, Deshpande added.
Bombay Shaving Company currently has 2 million users and competes with big brands like Emami and Gillette, as well younger grooming brands including Happily Unmarried, The Man Company and Marico acquired- Beardo. The company had also appointed Kartik Aryan as its Brand Ambassador in 2020.
