The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has picked up a stake in direct-to-consumer beauty products seller Purplle in a secondary transaction with JSW Ventures.
A secondary transaction is one where an investor purchases a stake from an existing investor instead of diluting the promoters' stake.
ADIA, the UAE-based sovereign wealth fund, has bought a stake directly from JSW Ventures. With this transaction, the early-stage VC fund has partially exited Purplle.
"JSW Ventures first invested in Purplle's Series A round in 2016 from their first fund. The fund then participated in multiple rounds along Purplle's journey to becoming a unicorn. The partial exit in Purplle has generated an 18-times return on the capital invested. Following this transaction, JSW Ventures has returned two times the Fund I corpus to their investors," it said in a statement.
The stake, the quantum of which was not disclosed, was sold at a flat valuation of $1.1 billion, according to a person familiar with the development. It is an extension of the previous round that was announced at the same time last year and is a majority secondary sale, the person said on condition of anonymity.
In June last year, Purplle said it was raising a $33 million Series E round at a unicorn valuation.
Purplle competes with listed players such as FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd., the operator of Nykaa, and well-funded competitors such as Sugar Cosmetics in the omnichannel beauty products space.
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