Bangkok-based online beauty retailer Konvy has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round solely from Insignia Ventures Partners – the first capital commitment by the Singapore-based venture capital firm in a Thailand company.
The 10-year-old startup, which produces and sells skincare products and cosmetics via its online platform, told DealStreetAsia that it plans to invest its capital in building brick-and-mortar stores, develop house brands and expand its international presence in Southeast Asia.
“Keeping the promise to our investors, we will offer both offline and online experiences,” said a representative from Konvy to DealStreetAsia. “We believe that Insignia’s extensive presence in Southeast Asia and investment experience will not only give us financial support but also business guidance in helping Konvy rapidly expand its footprint in the region and globally.”
Founded by e-commerce veteran Huang QingGui, also CEO of Konvy in 2012, the beauty startup had been bootstrapping until last year. In 2021, Konvy raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Thailand-based early-stage investor ECG Research (formerly ECG Venture Capital) and IndoChina-focused venture capitalist Alpha Founders Capital, the firm revealed to DealStreetAsia.
“From day one, we built Konvy to serve as an alternative and better platform for beauty brands to meet Thai consumers’ needs, and we have been fortunate to bootstrap and grow this business. But as we look to accelerate our growth, we see the value of collaborating with partners like Insignia Ventures,” said QingGui Huang in a statement.
“With this round of funding we aim to scale up our distribution capabilities to help more local and global brands,” he added.
The beauty startup recorded annual revenues of around $32 million last year with an average basket size of $25.
While its core business is still focused on its own platform, Konvy also offers its products on online marketplaces in Thailand such as Lazada and Shopee.
Southeast Asian beauty platforms have been seeing investment appetite from venture capital firms this year. The announcement comes less than two weeks after DealStreetAsia reported that Somethinc-BeautyHaul, an Indonesian beauty brand, secured $10 million in Series B funding from Sequoia Capital India and Prosus Ventures.
DealStreetAsia also reported on Oct. 11 that Indonesian beauty tech company Social Bella has raised $50 million from L Catterton and Temasek.
