Brands
Organic brand Juicy Chemistry raises $6.3 million in funding round
NEW DELHI: Organic brand Juicy Chemistry has raised $6.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Belgium based investment firm Verlinvest. This marks the largest Series A raise in the d2c beauty and personal care space. Veda Corporate Advisors was the exclusive financial advisor for the transaction.
Starting from a 10×10 make-shift kitchen, with five thousand rupees and a dream to change how the beauty and cosmetics industry was perceived in India, Juicy Chemistry was founded in 2014 by husband-wife duo Megha and Pritesh Asher. The brand offers a complete range of certified organic products across face, body and hair care, formulated with quality organic ingredients sourced from around the world.
“It is an incredibly exciting time for us. The investment will enable Juicy Chemistry to further strengthen its position as a leader in the clean and organic beauty segment,” shared Juicy Chemistry co-Founder & CEO Pritesh Asher. “We are keen to leverage this capital for the rapid expansion of Juicy Chemistry’s thriving e-commerce platform and omnichannel distribution capabilities, to reach new and existing geographies, to hire talent, for brand building and to cater to the increasing demand for products both domestically and in the international market.”
Boot-strapped until 2019, the firm raised an angel round from investor Amit Nanavati, who believed in the brand and its unique product offering. This gave the much-needed resource to scale operations and dream bigger. The Coimbatore-based homegrown brand has seen a 300 per cent jump in revenues for this fiscal year with a growing customer base, who are torch bearers for the brand with high repeat cohorts.
“Our colleagues at Juicy Chemistry have been the pillar of strength, and their sheer commitment and dedication to the brand has made this possible. It’s a privileged position for us to be in, as this new round of funding from the strongest purpose-led, consumer focused investor will tremendously accelerate our expansion plans and help us penetrate the market deeper and reach more consumers to spread the message of Organic beauty care. We look forward to building the brand full steam ahead, keeping the core ethos and values unaltered as we scale the business over the next phase,” said Juicy Chemistry co-Founder & COO Megha Asher.
“We are excited to start our journey with Juicy Chemistry, which forms part of our global effort in backing unique digital-first beauty brands for the long term. Verlinvest looks for authentic and passionate entrepreneurs who are creating a consumer revolution using their product and brand stories and we saw like-mindedness with the way Pritesh and Megha are building their business,” remarked Verlinvest Executive Director Arjun Anand.
“India is on track to become one of the largest beauty markets in the world. An increasingly conscious customer is shaping the trend towards clean beauty,” added Verlinvest Investment Professional Manvitha Janagam. “Megha and Pritesh, with their deep knowledge of organic beauty, have been able to craft the perfect beauty brand that strongly resonates with this conscious consumer. By emphasising on sourcing unique organic ingredients from across the world and manufacturing at highest ECOCERT standards, they are creating nothing short of a revolution in the organic beauty segment in India. I started my journey with Juicy Chemistry as a consumer a year ago and now I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of their future growth as an investor.”
Brands
Reliance Retail FY26 revenue rises 11.8 Per Cent to Rs 3.7 lakh crore
Q4 revenue up 11.1 Per Cent, hyperlocal orders surge 4x, PAT steady
MUMBAI: Reliance Retail isn’t just ringing up sales, it’s ringing doorbells faster than ever. Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) reported a steady FY26 performance, with growth powered by store expansion, a sharp surge in hyperlocal commerce, and consistent traction across grocery, fashion and jewellery. For the full year, revenue rose 11.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,70,026 crore. In the January–March quarter, revenue from operations climbed 11.1 per cent to Rs 87,344 crore, up from Rs 78,622 crore a year earlier.
Operating performance remained stable, with Q4 EBITDA inching up 3.1 per cent YoY to Rs 6,921 crore from Rs 6,711 crore. However, quarterly profit after tax held steady at Rs 3,563 crore. For the full fiscal, PAT grew 11.7 per cent to Rs 13,842 crore.
Expansion remained a key lever. RRVL added 1,564 new stores during FY26, while simultaneously scaling its digital and hyperlocal commerce play. The latter emerged as a standout, with daily orders surging more than fourfold year-on-year in Q4, underlining a clear shift towards faster, localised fulfilment.
In grocery, large-format stores maintained momentum, aided by festive demand and the expansion of Smart Bazaar, which crossed 1,000 stores. Promotional campaigns such as ‘Full Paisa Vasool’ delivered record results, with sales rising 26 per cent YoY.
Digital commerce also picked up pace. JioMart added 5.8 million new users in Q4, nearly doubling its registered base year-on-year. Hyperlocal orders grew 29 per cent sequentially and over 300 per cent annually during the quarter.
Fashion and lifestyle saw steady traction. Ajio recorded a 23 per cent YoY rise in average bill value, while fast-fashion platform Shein crossed 11 million app installs, scaling rapidly with expanding product lines.
The jewellery business added further shine, with average bill value jumping 53 per cent YoY, largely driven by rising gold prices and sustained consumer demand.
Commenting on the shift, RRVL executive director Isha Ambani said hyperlocal commerce has become a structural growth driver, with orders rising more than fourfold over the year.
Looking ahead to FY27, the company is betting on technology to deepen engagement. The focus, Ambani noted, will be on AI-led merchandising, sharper pricing strategies and disciplined execution turning scale into sustained customer value.
In short, the carts are fuller, the clicks are quicker, and the next phase looks less about reach and more about precision.
