Innovist is reportedly in talks to sell a majority of its stake to L’Oréal at a valuation of $350 Mn to $450 Mn (₹3,264 Cr to ₹4,196 Cr)
L’Oréal would look to pick up controlling stake in Innovist initially and is likely to completely acquire the Accel-backed startup in the subsequent years
Innovist posted a net profit of ₹12.1 Cr in FY25, against a net loss of ₹12.51 Cr from a year ago, while its operating revenue rose 2.8X to ₹299.05 Cr
Beauty and personal care (BPC) startup Innovist is reportedly in talks to sell a majority of its stake to global cosmetics giant L’Oréal at a valuation of $350 Mn to $450 Mn (₹3,264 Cr to ₹4,196 Cr).
As per a report by Bussiness, L’Oréal would look to pick up controlling stake in Innovist initially and is likely to completely acquire the Accel-backed startup in the subsequent years. The financial details of the transaction are yet to be discerned.
“The deal is expected to be sealed by April-end if these bilateral talks progress at the current pace,” a source told the publication.
Inc42 has reached out to Innovist cofounder Rohit Chawla and L’Oréal for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on their responses.
Founded in 2018 by Chawla, Sifat Khurana and Vimal Bhola, Innovist is a roll up BPC startup operating brands like Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play, SunScoop and Vinci Botanicals.
It competes with the likes of Mamaearth, Desi Farms and Minimalist, and such in the beauty and personal care space.
Innovist has raised close to $30 Mn across multiple rounds, from investors like Accel, Amazon Smbhav, ICICI Ventures, Sauce.vc, among many others.
On the financial front, Innovist posted a net profit of ₹12.1 Cr for the year ending March 31, 2025 (FY25) against a net loss of ₹12.51 Cr incurred the previous fiscal year. Its operating revenue stood at ₹299.05 Cr in the year under review, zooming 2.8X from ₹105.77 Cr in FY24.
At Inc42’s ‘The D2C & Retail Summit’ last year, Chawla highlighted that the startup’s revenue is evenly distributed across its own website, ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, and quick commerce.
If materialised, the Innovist buyout would add on to the ongoing trend of bigger conglomerates acquiring tech startups to expand their presence in the Indian consumer sector. Almost a year ago, FMCG major HUL acquired 90.5% stake in Minimalist in an all-cash deal totalling ₹2,706.44 Cr.
More recently, Marico acquired a majority stake in Cosmix Wellness for about ₹226 Cr, as it doubled down on the health and wellness categories, while Dabur India picked up a stake in RAS Luxury Skincare to enter the premium beauty segment.
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