Moisturizing one’s way to healthy revenues

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Hello readers,

For those who follow our newsletters, by now you’re likely familiar with India-based beauty and personal care startup Nykaa and its beast of a debut. Nykaa is actually a Sanskrit term for “one in the spotlight.”

Turns out, there’s another beauty startup that’s steadily been blooming in the spotlight. Indonesia-based Social Bella has seen a healthy growth in revenue in 2020 as it expanded outside its home country and into Vietnam – and a little birdie told us that Social Bella is set to raise around US$150 million. This would propel the company’s valuation to “several billion” dollars.

Today we look at,

• Soonicorn Social Bella’s revenues
• A much-needed list of women-friendly investors across the globe
• Other newsy highlights such as Emtek to acquire Indonesian bank, and a crypto link for BTS’ Hybe

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Bella so social

Image credit: Timmy Loen

With Social Bella’s revenue growing by almost 2x, the uptick is in line with the number of registered users on its platform, which doubled amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Offline: Social Bella has been aggressively expanding its brick-and-mortar stores. Its first store opened in August 2019 – now, there are 29 Sociolla Stores in Indonesia and three in Vietnam.

• Almost a done deal: A source familiar with the company told Tech in Asia that the East Ventures-backed startup is likely to raise around US$150 million, propelling its valuation to “several billion” dollars. Though the deal isn’t set in stone, it’s likely to be completed within months.

• India-bound? Social Bella used part of its recent funding to acquire India-based Bluehat Software Solutions in January. While it’s unclear if it is looking at only an engineering outpost or if it plans to go head-to-head with Nykaa, Social Bella is pretty intent on being the belle of the ball.

Read more: Soonicorn Social Bella doubled its revenue in 2020

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