Falguni Nayar’s beauty company, an Indian e-commerce platform, rocketed her into the lists of the world’s wealthiest people. She owns over 50% of Nykaa, is now worth around $6.5 billion after the company’s shares rose as much as 89% when they began trading on November 10, 2021. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, she has now become India’s richest self-made female billionaire.
Nykaa’s parent company, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, is India’s 1st woman-led company listed on the stock exchange. It valued its IPO at the high end of an advertised range, raising $722 million. On November 10, when the stock exchange market opened, the stock was up 78%.
Falguni Nayar, who previously led India’s Top investment bank, established Nykaa in 2012, just months before her 50th birthday. Earlier, most females in the nation purchased beauty and hair-care products from local mom-and-pop shops, where the range was limited, and samples were unthinkable.
Since then, the business has grown into the nation’s most prominent beauty retail outlet, bolstering sales online with promo videos featuring dazzling Bollywood actresses and famous people and more than 60 brick-and-mortar stores. Nykaa, inspired by the Sanskrit word for a heroine, provides exfoliating treatments, bridal make-up basics, and many lipsticks, foundation, and nail colour choices to fit Indian complexion tones and skin types.
According to its report, company sales increased by 35% to $330 million in the fiscal year ending in March. Nykaa is a profitable firm, which is unusual among online startups establishing their public market entrance. Nayar’s share in the firm is held via two family trusts and seven other promoter institutions. Among promoters are her Harvard-educated daughter and son, who oversee several Nykaa units.
Although Falguni Nayar is India’s wealthiest self-made female billionaire, Savitri Jindal is India’s richest woman, overseeing the OP Jindal Group empire built by her late husband. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which ranks the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals, Savitri’s wealth is worth $12.9 billion.
Nykaa’s IPO is among numerous consumer internet firms that have gone public this year, despite the stock market’s strong performance. Paytm, India’s biggest digital payments company, funded by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp., will close for subscriptions on Wednesday. Its parent organization, One97 Communications Ltd., is seeking a $2.5 billion IPO, the highest in the country, whereas Nykaa has revolutionized Indians’ perceptions of make-up beyond lipstick and kajal liners.
In this nation of 1.3 billion people, women and even men are starting to open their pockets to spend on make-up and grooming items.
