Singapore beauty subscription service VanityTrove has acquired Glamybox, a similar company from Vietnam. This deal gives VanityTrove a foot in the door to Vietnam’s USD 372M cosmetics industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In August 2012, the company had around 5,000 subscribers and over 15,000 shipments. It was also in the midst of raising a round of funding.
Its brands partnership team increased from a staff strength of 3 last year to 13 employees in January 2013 to accommodate demand from beauty brands.
The startup’s headcount of 40 is spread out across five countries, with its top three markets subscriber-wise being Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand.
The company has been expanding rapidly this year, in tandem with a rise in quantity of beauty box startups across Asia and the retreat of Rocket Internet’s Glossybox. The Samwer Brothers outfit now only focuses on Japan, South Korea, and China, the three biggest cosmetics markets in Asia.
In February, VanityTrove acquired Glossybox Taiwan, expanding its coverage that already includes Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Competition in Indonesia has heated up with homegrown BeautyTreats and Lolabox entering the fray.
The beauty box concept first originated with BirchBox, a New York City based startup. It has since spread rapidly around the world, first to Europe, then to Asia. At last count, Birchbox has some 100,000 subscribers, while Glossybox has 200,000.
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