Sequoia Captial invests in Indian deodorant player Vini Cosmetics

The company has bought an approximately 8 percent stake in the company, which it said it paid a sum of Rs. 110 crore ($20m), which also served to buy up a smaller stake currently owned by an unnamed investor.

Vini cosmetics was founded by Darshan Patel in 2010 and currently holds three main brands in the portfolio, the Fogg deodorant brand, together with the White Tone and Jinjola talcum powder brands.

According to an interview Patel gave to the Wall Street Journal, the company has a turnover of approximately Rs. 175 crore a year, and the purpose of securing the investment is to diversify the business into the over-the-counter and nutraceuticals categories, as well as broadening the cosmetics portfolio.

Significant growth in a short space of time​

Although it is still a very young business, it has managed to tap into niche areas of the Indian cosmetics and personal care market that have proved to be very lucrative.

This has served to give the company an incredible growth, which in turn has helped to attract the investment of the venture capital business.

Patel says that the success of the business should lead to revenues growing in excess of 30 percent during the course of this year, which is expected to put total turnover for 2013 at somewhere in the region of Rs. 250 crore.

Unilever expands into growing Indian deodorants market​

In February of this year, Unilever announced a significant investment in the country’s deodorant market when it announced a$€66m investment in its first Asian aerosol manufacturing facility in Khamgaon, Maharashtra.

Investment in Khamgaon will be phased over three years and production capacity will gradually be scaled up to generate direct employment for over 150 people and indirect employment for about 200 people.

The plant will service demand from India and across South East Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam and will utilise the latest technologies to maximise energy efficiency and reduce waste water to zero.

Jyothy eyes female deodorant market​

Likewise, in May of this year, the lucrative market for female deodorants led Jyothy Laboratories to announce that it is targeting a major expansion into the fast-growing India market for female personal care in an effort to carve out more market share from the major players. 

The company says it wants to focus its efforts on the Fa brand, which is well known as a female deodorant, but also extends into a host of other personal care products, including soaps and talc, according to a Bloomberg report.

The Fa brand is owned by Germany-based homecare and personal care player Henkel but has been marketed produced by Jyothy Laboratories since it bought a majority stake in Henkel India, back in May 2011.