Purple Style Labs (PSL), owner of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop raises USD 10 Million in Series B-round from Madhuri Dixit Nene and a cluster of investors

New Delhi: PSL has scaled the business of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop at an astonishing pace to achieve a 50X growth in only four years (acquisition in 2018), despite seeing a suppressed market in the last two years. 

PSL’s current growth plans and projections include achieving INR 750 Cr+ (~USD 100Mn) Gross Sales in ongoing FY 22-23.

Purple Style Labs (PSL), owner of Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop (PPUS), India’s largest omni-channel luxury fashion e-commerce platform, has raised USD 10 million in its Series-B round led by Akash Bhansali (Director, Enam Holdings). The round saw participation from renowned investors and industry veterans like Madhuri Dixit Nene (Actor), Navroz Udwadia (Co-founder, Alpha Wave Global), Yuj Ventures/Sid Yog (Founder, Xander Group), Rahul Garg (Partner, Premji Invest), Mukul Agrawal (Founder, Param Capital), Rahul Kayan (Director, SMIFS Ltd), Girish Kulkarni (Suyash Advisors), Harminder Sahni (Wazir Advisors), Rishi Vasudev (Co-Founder, G.O.A.T. Brand Labs), Vineet Gautam (CEO, Bestseller India) and Sumit Jalan.

Said Madhuri Dixit Nene, “India has always had a rich history in culture, and this has constantly seeped into the fashion industry. This thought has been brought into the forefront by Purple Style Labs as they have given a new meaning and outlook to India’s luxury fashion industry. I have been highly impressed with their curation of refreshing designs, colours, quality and texture. They have a great sense of the market and I believe that soon they would be a company to watch out for. Their biggest asset is recognising Indian designers and giving them an international platform to be discovered.”

Under the leadership of Abhishek (Monty) Agarwal (an alumnus of IIT Bombay and Deutsche Bank), in a short span of four years since acquisition, Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop (PPUS) has turned into the largest luxury e-commerce platform in India with 75% of its online sales from international markets. PPUS has achieved an astonishing growth pace of 50 X from 2018 to 2022, despite two of these years being a suppressed market given the pandemic. The omni-channel platform currently retails 800+ designer brands including top designers such as TarunTahiliani, Anita Dongre, Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Aggarwal, Masaba and Anushree Reddy amongst others.

Says Abhishek (Monty) Agarwal, “After my stint at Deutsche Bank, I was looking to start something of my own in the consumer industry. I noticed that while most of the Indian designers have been able to build strong brand equity with consumers, they have been unable to make it commercially viable and scale up to becoming a large business. Sensing this opportunity in the industry, combined with a personal interest in luxury fashion led to the inception of Purple Style Labs. Hence, our thesis since inception has been to build an Indian Luxury Fashion house, which takes Indian-origin designers to a global scale”.

PSL has opened 10 Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio experience centres in Mumbai (Juhu, Kalaghoda, Bandra), Delhi (Mehrauli, DLF Emporio), Bangalore (Leela Palace), Hyderabad (Banjara Hills), Kolkata (Elgin Road), Ahmedabad (Near Iskcon) and an international store in London (Grosvenor Street, Mayfair).

Owing to its foresight of increasing demand for luxury menswear in India, PSL has also launched a new vertical for multi-designer men’s clothing and accessories. PSL has already opened two strategic stores in Mumbai namely Pernia’s Pop-Up Studio for Men (Bandra and Peddar Road), and is in the process of launching its next menswear store in Ahmedabad.

PSL also acquired the fashion label “Wendell Rodricks” in December 2020 and expects to scale it to an INR 100 crore run-rate in the next three years. Since acquisition, three stores for Wendell Rodricks have already opened in Mumbai (Juhu, Kalaghoda and Palladium, Lower Parel).

PSL’s current growth plans and projections include achieving INR 750 Cr+ (~USD 100Mn) gross sales in ongoing FY 22-23. The company is currently expanding its existing footprint in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, along with opening in new cities such as Chennai and Surat. PSL further plans to expand in international markets, with retail stores in New York and Dubai within the next 12-18 months.