As part of a strategic alliance between two businesses with common values, Singapore-based Believe has invested $10 million in Iba Cosmetics, an Ahmedabad-based Halal-certified and PETA-certified vegan cosmetics and personal care brand from Ecotrail Personal Care Pvt Ltd.
The company is currently in Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Kerala through offline retail. It sells primarily online through its website and platforms, including Bigbasket, Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart, and Purplle.
“In today’s beauty landscape, brands need an omnichannel approach. This strategic alliance with Believe is going to help us with distribution and scale not only within India but in international markets as well, thus ensuring that a new and much larger segment of Halal and vegan consumers get to experience the brand,” said Mauli Teli, CEO, Iba Cosmetics.
With its headquarters in Singapore, Believe Pte Ltd manages a range of brands in the health and beauty market. Since its inception in 2019, Believe Pte has raised $80 million from investors, including Accel, Jungle Ventures, IIFL, and Venturi Partners, for its expansion. The company currently distributes its products in 9 countries, including India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. It manufactures its vegan and Halal-certified products in 10 countries, including Korea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany.
“Believe now operates in 1,000+ shop-in-shop counters in India and services more than 60,000 outlets through its direct field force. The Iba alliance combines the best-in-class distribution that Believe has built in India, along with the tremendous consumer love that Iba has generated over the last eight years of its existence. Combining our respective strengths, we thus project brand Iba to deliver a 4x growth over the next 12 months,” said Afroz Hossain Arefin, Business Head, Believe Singapore.
“Believe targets to grow to a $100 million revenue global conglomerate by March 2023, which would be a global monopoly business serving consumers seeking Halal and clean beauty across the world. The company has grown more than 100% y-o-y over the last 12 months and expects to continue that growth rate,” added Afroz.
