Sugar Cosmetics: How Husband-Wife Duo Created a Cosmetic Brand for Indian Skin


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Sugar Cosmetics Success Story

Make up is a type of art form that people are obsessed with on a daily basis. This leads to creation of opportunity for the makeup brands, especially when the potential market is huge. Sugar Cosmetics is one of those brands that has pushed through the competitions and has established a very reputed name for themselves. The craze Sugar has raised among the millennial within this small time-span is astonishing.

About The Brand: Sugar Cosmetics

Started in 2015 by Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, Sugar Cosmetics is one of the fastest growing cosmetic brands of India, with an ever increasing craze among millennials. Sugar does not believe in stereotyping into categories owned to its unique, low poly packaging, chart-topping products and stout attitude.

Vineeta and Kaushik saw most of the products other brands are selling are based on the skin colour of people in western countries and there’s a need for products for our skin type and tone. That’s why sugar produces products based on Indian complexions and tone, weather, seasons all across the year which again is premium in quality and cruelty-free.

When they started the brand, they only had two items to sell but, now they have over 450+ items to sell across 770 + retail stores in over 130+ cities be it metro or tier 2 cities across India. The main purpose of the brand is to reach to all the cosmetic user’s home in the country and work on the growing cosmetic market.

Founders of Sugar Cosmetics

Vineeta Singh and his husband and her college mate Kaushik Mukherjee started Sugar.

Vineeta Singh: Vineeta is an engineering graduate completed graduation from IIT Madras, later did her MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. She is the Co-founder and currently the CEO of the company. Vineeta has appeared recently in the shark tank India and has gained popularity all across the country. She is also a TEDx speaker, triathlon and ultramarathon runner.

Kaushik Mukherjee: Kaushik Mukherjee is the co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics who is also the husband of Veenita. He did engineering from BITS Pilani and then went on to complete his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Like his wife he is also fitness enthusiast, marathon runner, a TEDx speaker and ironman triathlete.

Target Market

The Indian and worldwide cosmetic market is huge, there is 25% growth every year. In India alone the market in 2021 crossed over $8 Billion. So, the potential for growth and target of Sugar is huge. The goal of the brand has always been to create a D2C giant in the cosmetic segment. From the very early days due the brand’s presence in the digital segment has been crucial for its growth mainly among the females of age between 20-28 years of age.

Investment and Funding

After a 58-month-long wait Sugar Cosmetics moved from seed funding to series A. IndiaQuotient was the first investor in the brand investing $2.5 million in series A funding on June 1, 2017.

In series B funding held on March 8, 2019 sugar cosmetics raised a sum of $12 million by A91 Partners, Anicut and IndiaQuotient.

Their latest funding was raised on October 21, 2020, from the series C round and raised $21 million from A91 Partners, Elevation Capital, and Stride ventures.

Now sugar has 7 investors and itself acquired ENN Beauty in January 2022.

Expansion Plan

Currently present in more than 30000 retail shops, the direct-to-consumer brand, Sugar cosmetics is looking to expand in the next 12-15 months. Vineeta hinted to expand the brand to be found in more than 60,000 stores. From inside reports, it has been known, that more than 60% of the company’s business comes from Tier 2, and 3 cities, and the international market comprises of 7-8 %. Although other brands struggled to make a good profit, Sugar has already established itself as a 100 crore brand.

The company will prioritize the growth in the Indian market and once the growth trajectory slows down, they will focus on the international market share.

In January Sugar Cosmetic picked up a whopping 51% stake in hair care and skincare brand, ENN Beauty.

Prime Competitors

  • Lakme
  • Maybelline
  • Plum
  • L’Oreal
  • M.A.C

Manufacturing Places

The brand manufactures its products in India, Germany, Korea, USA, China, Italy.

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Ayan Mondal