Brands
HCPL acquires a majority stake in skincare brand Dr. Sheth’s
Mumbai: The parent company of Mamaearth and The Derma Co., Honasa Consumer has acquired skincare brand Dr. Sheth’s. Through this acquisition, the company has control of the majority stake in Dr. Sheth’s at a valuation of Rs 28 crore. The primary round of funds will be directed to accelerate future growth of the brand.
While Honasa Consumers will have control of the majority stake in Dr. Sheth’s, Dr Aneesh Sheth will continue to lead the business and product innovation for the brand.
The products of Dr Sheth’s have been developed with expertise accrued by three generations of accomplished cosmetologists and dermatologists. The products are formulated knowing that Indian skin is unique and requires specialized care. The brands’ product portfolio has solutions for skin concerns like pigmentation, acne, dryness, wrinkles, and many others. Some of the popular products by the brand are amla vc20 vitamin c serum, haldi and hyaluronic acid sleeping mask, cica and ceramide overnight repair serum, among others. With over 30+ Skus, the brand has catered to over 200,000 consumers.
Dr. Sharat Desai, probably India’s first dermatologist, worked to put India on the map for the field of dermatology. Following in the father’s footsteps, his daughter, Dr. Rekha Sheth, became India’s first cosmetic dermatologist and one of the preferred dermatologists by bollywood celebrities. Dr. Aneesh Sheth, PhD Pharmacology and an Ivy league trained cosmetic scientist, founded Dr. Sheth’s with the ambition of formulating skincare products using the knowledge aggregated over three generations and bringing the best of nature and science together.
Millennials are evolving and there is a growing appreciation for sophisticated ingredients. While they seek comfort in traditional Indian ingredients in skincare, they also want to go beyond the conventional and experiment. Sheth’s has identified this void and created a portfolio of products that blend natural ingredients with science-based active ingredients, providing the best of both worlds. With a digital-first approach Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. has established its leadership in understanding millennial consumer behavior and launching and successfully scaling consumer brands with a strong millennial connect. The expertise of Dr. Sheth’s in creating specialized skincare for Indian consumers, coupled with the digital expertise of HCPL, will help scale the business of Dr. Sheth’s and further strengthen the leadership of HCPL in digital-first brands.
Honasa Consumer co-founder and CEO Varun Alagh said, “Dr. Sheth’s is a brand that is synonymous with heritage and legacy, and we are excited about this partnership as it will help us widen our portfolio offerings under the HCPL umbrella. It will be a symbiotic relationship wherein there will be knowledge sharing across brands and collaboratively build the brand and its product portfolio.”
“Being a house of brands, Honasa Consumer has attained expertise in building millennial brands with a digital-first approach. We will utilize our expertise and proficiency in digital marketing to accelerate the growth and scale growth for Dr. Sheth’s and we are confident that we will make it a 100 crores run rate brand in two years. HCPL & Dr. Sheth’s synergize on fundamental ideologies of distinctive product innovation and strong millennial connect, we are confident this collaboration will be a success for consumers and for both brands,” he added.
Commenting on the partnership Aneesh Sheth said, “We are very excited about the partnership with HCPL – they bring a level of operational excellence that will make our expertise and our products accessible to a wider community. Their experience as a house of brands will also help us optimize our innovation and bring about a great range of skincare that combines the best of both worlds – science and nature.”
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
