Beauty-tech start-up Social Bella, which owns omnichannel beauty chain Sociolla, has closed $60 million in funding led by existing investors Temasek and L Catterton.
WHO: Founded in 2015, Social Bella has evolved from an e-commerce platform to a physical and digital ecosystem. To date, it has 48 physical stores across Indonesia and 13 locations in Vietnam. In addition to the online and offline platform Sociolla, Social Bella offers an end-to-end distributor service for beauty and personal care brands. It also operates the consumer review platform SOCO as well as beauty and lifestyle online media Beauty Journal, which also provides an online-to-offline marketing service. The company’s latest venture is Lilla by Sociolla, a beauty and personal care e-commerce service designed for “young and sophisticated mothers.”
WHY: The funding follows robust and sustainable growth, with store count up 20-fold in just two years, in part due to cross-border expansion.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “Sustainability has been our core principle since day one, and all of our bold moves are always well calculated,” said Christopher Madiam, co-founder and President of Social Bella. “This is why we have been able to generate stellar growth despite the pandemic and raise new funds from marquee investors, validating our business model and robust fundamentals.”
DETAILS:
- Sociolla received over $60 million in a new investment round led by Temasek and L Catterton, with participation from existing investors such as East Ventures, Jungle Ventures, and others.
- The round was well below the $150 million the business initially targeted to raise.
- Social Bella has raised more than $226 million since 2018 at a $564 million valuation.
- The company claims margins are increasing and its footprint has expanded 20x, a sign of is ability to weather the volatile macroeconomic climate. They currently have 48 stores in 24 cities across Indonesia and 13 locations in Vietnam.
- Social Bella secured $58 million in a Series E funding round in July 2020 from existing investors Temasek, Pavilion Capital, and Jungle Ventures.
- Series D (2019): $40 million from lead investors EV Growth and Temasek as well as new backers EDBI, Pavilion Capital, and Jungle Ventures.
- Series C (2018): $12 million from lead investors EV Growth, Sinar Mas, and Yahoo Japan, along with Japanese beauty and fashion company Istyle and an unnamed “major institutional investor from Singapore.”
- Series B (2017): Undisclosed amount from Istyle and East Ventures.
- Series A (2015): A seven-figure amount from Venturra Capital (lead), East Ventures, and Steve Christian of Indonesia’s KapanLagi Network.
