Press "Enter" to skip to content

Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif’s investment in Nykaa grows 10X with IPO – YourStory

Celebrity investors in beauty ecommerce startup Nykaa, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif have seen their investment in the company grow 10X after its public market debut.

Alia’s shareholding in the company was estimated to be worth Rs 54 crore on Wednesday’s closing price of Rs 2,206.7 per share. Alia had invested Rs 4.95 crore in the parent company of Nykaa, FSN E-Commerce Ventures, in July 2020.

Katrina Kaif entered a joint venture with the company in 2018 to set up Nykaa-KK Beauty, which retails the cosmetic brand Kay Beauty. She had invested Rs 2.04 crore in the company. Her shares were worth Rs 22 crore at Wednesday’s closing price.

This is the second instance of Indian celebrity investors realising returns from the public listing of internet stocks on the bourses, after Amitabh Bachhan gained over 46-fold from his investment in search platform, JustDial, in 2013.

FSN E-Commerce debuted on the stock markets on Wednesday, and saw its market cap double to $13 billion, catapulting Founder Falguni Nayar to the Indian billionaire’s club with a net worth of $6.5 billion.

Alia recently invested in IIT Kanpur-backed direct-to-consumer incense brand, Phool. In 2018, she backed the curated fashion subscription service StyleCracker.

The trend of Bollywood actors and celebrities backing startups isn’t new. Deepika Padukone has backed multiple startups through her investment firm KA Enterprises LLP, including edtech platform FrontRow , e-mobility company BluSmart , small satellite manufacturer Bellatrix Aerospace and beauty commerce venture, Purplle, among others.

Cricketer Virat Kohli is an investor in multiple companies including online gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) , insurance aggregator Digit Insurance , and others.

Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta