BigStylist gets $900K more from Naukri.com parent

Beauty-services marketplace BigStylist has raised Rs 6 crore ($900,000) in a new round of funding from existing investor Info Edge (India) Ltd.

Info Edge said in a stock-exchange filing on Tuesday that the transaction takes the total it has so far invested in BigStylist to Rs 12.4 crore and that it now holds a 39% stake in the startup.

Info Edge, which runs a slew of Internet properties such as job portal Naukri.com, real estate website 99acres.com and matrimonial portal Jeevansathi.com, had invested $1 million in BigStylist in a pre-Series A funding round in November last year.

Info Edge founder and executive vice chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani said the company was the only investor in the new round. "This is a bridge round, which will help the company (BigStylist) break even," he said.

Back-of-the-envelope calculations show the current round values BigStylist at Rs 43 crore. Bikhchandani did not comment on the valuation of the company.

BigStylist, run by Green Leaves Consumer Services Pvt. Ltd, allows customers to order beauty services at home by stylists and beauticians through its website, Android app and phone calls.

The startup was founded in July 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Richa Singh, Chinmaya Sharma and Anurag Srivastava. Singh and Sharma have previously worked with Oliver Wyman and Bain & Co., after their MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, respectively. Srivastava is the chief technology officer and has experience in building technology products.

Besides BigStylist, Info Edge holds stakes in several technology firms such as food-tech firm Zomato, coupons site Mydala, online insurance policy aggregator PolicyBazaar, e-learning firm Meritnation and online photography startup Canvera Digital Technologies. It was the lead investor in Canvera's $3 million funding round last week.

The online beauty and wellness services segment has been going through a bit of consolidation lately.

Last month, Quikr India Pvt. Ltd acquired ZapLuk, an on-demand beauty and wellness services provider, to grow its beauty services brand AtHomeDiva.

In April, salon chain Naturals invested $15 million (Rs 100 crore) in Vyomo Pte Ltd, a Bengaluru-based mobile marketplace for beauty and wellness services.

Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.