Juicy Chemistry Success Story: Startup Story Revolutionizing Skincare in India!

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Juicy Chemistry Success Story

When it comes to the cosmetic industry, consumers are always concerned as to what goes behind the scenes while making these products and mainly the concern is about the ingredients. For the same reasons, nowadays we see a huge buzz about organic products or natural hair care and skin care products. To capitalize this buzz and to level up this segment in the beauty care industry, Megha Ahser and Pritesh Asher are the Owners of Juicy Chemistry.

Juicy Chemistry was started with the aim of providing simplified skincare. The vision is to dig deep into the nature and it's method of renewal and rejuvenation and use all organic materials and essential oils to form skincare products. Their products are cruelty free, synthetic products free and are also vegan, free of artificial fragrance, have no preservatives or synthetic additives.

Let's go through the Journey of Juicy Chemistry from 0 to 100+ product ranges in just 5 years. Also know about Juicy Chemistry Owner, Revenue, Funding, Net Worth, Business Model, How Juicy Chemistry Started & more..

Juicy Chemistry - Company Highlights

Startup Name-Juicy Chemistry
Headquarter-Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
Sector-Organic Beauty
Founders/Owners-Megha Asher, Pritesh Asher
Founded-2015
Valuation-$26 million or Rs 190 crore (2021)
Total Funding-$6.95 Million
Revenue/Turnover-Rs 6.25 crore (FY20)
Parent Organization-Juicy Chemistry private limited
Website-juicychemistry.com
Contact-hello@juicychemistry.com

Juicy Chemistry - Latest News

June 2021 - Juicy Chemistry has raised funds from Spring Marketing Capital, as part of investment firm’s ‘Skin in the Game’ fund, that counts Verlinvest as an anchor investor.

March 2021 - Juicy Chemistry raised $6.3 million in Series-A funding round led by Belgium-based investment firm Verlinvest. According to Fintrackr’s estimates, Juicy Chemistry's valuation stands at Rs 190 crore or $26 million.

Juicy Chemistry - About and How it Works

Juicy Chemistry started with a mission to spread awareness about certified organic skin, hair and personal care products and making people understand that every thing that we need for a healthy and beautiful skin is available from nature's lap and to believe that labs can produce better ingredients then nature is just a fad!

To get more people to use cruelty free organic products, to make them realize that chemical free does not mean it won't be effective. Instead organic products are the future and should be used on a large scale as they promote sustainable development and organic well-being.

Juicy Chemistry has come pretty far since it started five years ago. They have grown to have a 100+ product range.

Juicy Chemistry - Target Market Size

The company's main target audience is people who are concerned about harsh chemicals and toxins in their current skin & hair care products and also customers who want to elevate their current choice of product from the “natural’ category to certified organic products.

Juicy Chemistry - How it started?

After suffering for over a decade with hyper-sensitive and acne-prone skin, and consulting with numerous dermatologists, Megha found that the products simply lacked efficacy. Disappointed, she wanted to try the organic route. But, a chance encounter with a sales person, trying to sell natural products, made Pritesh realize that some of the ingredients listed were used by them at their petroleum products manufacturing unit as raw material!

A deeper study shockingly revealed that most personal care products, including baby care contained these harmful ingredients! As they shared their thoughts with family and friends it increasingly became clear that there was either very little awareness about such chemicals present in products and their adverse effects, or there was no alternative available for consumers to switch to a skin care brand that was truly natural. Either way there was an obvious gap in the market.

Coming from a manufacturing background, Pritesh who is one of the founders, had learnt and specialized in complex formulations and manufacturing techniques amongst other business intricacies. They decided to put this knowledge in use to formulate a unique skincare line to provide simplified solutions. To study it in detail, they also compiled data of their current customers, did some social media advertisements and then analyzed social sites and website reach.

By digging deep into Nature and its methods of renewal and rejuvenation, Juicy Chemistry’s products were formulated. The intensive research into essential oils and traditional skincare ingredients forms the foundation of the products. They are all formulated with absolutely no chemicals or preservatives.

Juicy Chemistry started with Rs 5000/- and a make shift 10*10 kitchen in early 2015 with 2 employees. They added additional manufacturing facility in 2018 to make their current facility at 10,000 sq ft.

Juicy Chemistry - Products/Services

Juicy Chemistry believe that shopping for personal care products for you and your family should be both delightful & holistic. Personal care should not just be a sweet smelling experience, but should create the perfect harmony between the body, mind and spirit.

In line with their brand ethos, Juicy Chemistry is India’s first and only skin care brand to offer a complete range of skin care, hair care, personal care and aromatherapy products which are certified organic by Ecocert (France) in accordance with COSMOS V3 standards

By drawing inspiration from nature, and understanding the power of its rich flora, the company help in creating the perfect chemistry between you & nature. Their unique formulations are designed in house and every ingredient earns its place to achieve a specific result. The team carefully mix ingredients in precise quantities and make their products in small-batches to ensure maximum effective shelf-life.

Each product is handcrafted with the finest local produce and organic essential oils, to make your Juicy Chemistry experience a sheer indulgence! In addition to their commitment to provide pure & green products, Pritesh and Megha also believe that consumers have the right to know the ingredients in their product. Their products are cruelty free, synthetic products free and are also vegan.

The company proudly list out every ingredient used in their product so that customers can make informed choices. Start looking at the labels in your skin care products for ingredients. The more you read about cosmetic ingredients, the more you will be able to make informed choices. Juicy chemistry provide you with the starting base for a sound understanding of the beauty industry and the importance of using natural and organic products. It’s all about creating your “Juicy Chemistry” with nature!

Juicy Chemistry - Founders/Owners and Team

Juicy Chemistry was founded by Megha and Pritesh Asher in 2015. Megha and Pritesh Asher

Both Pritesh and Megha studied at Chinmaya International Residential school and went on to pursue their Bachelor’s degree at Griffith University, Australia. Megha was doing her degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice system while Pritesh was doing his bachelors in Business management. Megha went on to complete her masters in Journalism and mass communication, Pritesh came back to join his family business. Post marriage in 2009 with Pritesh, Megha moved to Coimbatore and started a clothing line as she was passionate about designing and couture.

"At the ideation stage of Juicy Chemistry, we honestly did not have any experience of starting a skin care brand and a bootstrapped brand. With a seed money of Rs. 5,000, we started from scratch right from researching, trials and testing, sales, exhibitions, accounts etc. As we learnt, we brought in more staff and passed on the skill and continued to empower the team to make errors but learn quickly from the mistakes we made and now we are 35 member team and all of members including the few members are now the part of our core mid-level team. Apart from them we also now have a Consultant CFO, and financial advisors on board. We are actively looking to fill our CXO level teams in the near future.", said Pritesh and Megha Asher.

They strongly adhere by the saying, "Team work makes the dream work." And it quite does. The founders have got an amazing set of key workers who put their best foot forward to bear exceptionally tangible results.

Juicy Chemistry - Name, Tagline and Logo

During the initial product development days, the team was trying to formulate a soap using fresh beetroot juice and expected a completely different outcome to what they were expecting and Pritesh claimed that some Juicy Chemistry of ingredients and that pretty much stuck! This is how the company got it's name.

Juicy Chemistry - Business Model and Revenue Model

Juicy Chemistry is predominantly a B2C business model with 90% of its revenue coming from online channels. Along with Juicy chemistry’s website, the brand also retail on Nykaa, Amazon, Myntra and other online channels. Juicy Chemistry also has a flagship store in Coimbatore and plans to expand its online presence aggressively in the coming days.

Juicy Chemistry - Startup Launch

Starting from a small 10*10 kitchen, juicy chemistry's initial marketing efforts were more about educating the customers on the harmful ingredients that were hidden in everyday use cosmetics and even baby care products.

They participated in small trade shows that gave them the opportunity to get new customers and also to get feedback on their product. The company kept running out of products and customer always came back for more. A lot of their marketing was through word of mouth and fortunately continues to be so even today

Juicy Chemistry - User Acquisition and Growth

"To be very honest, we believe that no amount of marketing dollars spent is going to win you a customer the second time if the product and service offered in not worth customer's money. For us, at juicy chemistry, customer satisfaction remains the top priority and word of mouth marketing has worked exceptionally in our favor. We also work closely with social media influencers to spread the message of simplified skin care and that has helped us grow exponentially.", said Megha Asher, co-founder of Juicy Chemistry.

The company also have recently started cross promotions with brands with similar synergies. For example, they did a cross promotion activity with a healthy snack bar company and created trial experiences by sending their customer the fast moving health bars with online orders and the same was done by them and it was a very successful campaign as the customers got to try the product first hand and that gave them the confidence to come back and try more of their products.

The company has grown by 60% in the last 12 months and is on track to cross revenues of 15 Crores in the next fiscal year. They started with 5 SKUs and 17 lakh revenue in the first year and currently doing over 7.5 Crore in revenue in the FY 19-20.

Juicy Chemistry - Revenue

Juicy Chemistry clocked revenue of Rs 6.25 crore in FY20. It is eyeing 4x growth and hopes to achieve sales of Rs 25 crore by the end of FY21.

Juicy Chemistry - Startup Challenges

One major challenge faced was customer's questions about how their product is any different from other skincare products. The team understood this question from a customer’s point of view as they are constantly bombarded with products claiming to be natural/pure/organic or even Ayurvedic.

"We knew it was not enough to just claim that our product was organic and natural, it had to be proved to our biggest and most important stake holders, our customers." - Pritesh Asher.

Today, Juicy Chemistry is India's first & only skin care brand to have certified its entire range of skin care products under the ECOCERT Certification (France) according to COSMOS Standards under the Organic category.

Juicy Chemistry - Funding and Investors

Juicy Chemistry has raised a total funding of more than $6.95 million.

Juicy Chemistry - Advisors and Mentors

Veda corp has come on board as their financial advisors and will continue to guide them through the journey. They are also on their advisory team and helps them with strategies that can assist them right from products, marketing, team, networking, technology and all other value additions.

Juicy Chemistry - Recognition/Achievements

Juicy Chemistry is the first ever Indian brand with a complete certified organic products range by Ecocert (France) in accordance with COSMOS V3 Standard. COSMOS ORGANIC requires that at least 95% of the Ingredients should be from certified organic sources and the balance 5% should be natural.

Juicy Chemistry - Future Plans

The company see themselves doing a lot more products in the next 5 years, more organic, more rejuvenating products and also support sustainable development in the process. They are as excited and as driven about creating products as they were and they'll be after five years too. Juicy Chemistry target to reach 30 Cr Revenue in the next 2 years and 65 Cr Revenue in the next 4 years of operations. And they're very positive, dedicated about creating more organic products and delivering it to customers. They want to strive to be transparent, authentic and real with our consumers.