Nykaa is in talks to acquire Chiratae-backed Little Black Book

• ByStartupStory     |    June 20, 2022

An online marketplace dedicated to the beauty industry Nykaa is in advanced discussions to buy Little Black Book, a local discovery and e-commerce site (LBB). 

The two firms have been in negotiations for a few months, and Nykaa has lately provided LBB with a term sheet. The merger would bolster Nykaa’s content game while also complementing its lifestyle and home décor categories, according to one of the individuals, who requested anonymity because the discussions have yet to be made public.

Nykaa has been buying firms to improve its offers against competitors like Purplle and horizontal marketplaces. Falguni Nayar’s business invested in Earth Rhythm, Nudge Wellness, and KICA in April. It also acquired Dot & Key, a Kolkata-based indigenous skincare business, before going public. Nykaa’s portfolio also includes 20Dresses.com and Pipa Bella. Nykaa is also in the running to buy MensXP, which is owned by Times Internet. Nykaa debuted on the BSE in November 2021, with a market capitalization of $8.3 billion.

LBB is a two-sided marketplace for unique lifestyle items that began as a Tumblr blog and side project by Suchita Salwan in 2012 and was subsequently joined by Dhruv Mathur as co-founder. The firm started in September 2021 when it served 22 million customers in eight locations and had 10,000 merchants on its platform.

The transaction is expected to be troubled since LBB has been having difficulty raising additional rounds for some time, and the agreement is on the verge of being finalised if nothing goes wrong at the last minute.

Little Black Book’s scale was also severely impacted by the epidemic, as seen by the dramatic drop in its collection during FY21. From Rs 14.62 crore in FY20 to Rs 8.63 crore in FY21, the company’s operational revenue dropped 40.97% to Rs 8.63 crore. Meanwhile, it has failed to submit its FY22 annual financial report.

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