Nykaa is a Mumbai-based multi-brand beauty retailer selling cosmetic and wellness products. Founded by Falguni Nayar^[2], Nykaa began as an online retailer in April 2012 and opened its first physical retail store at T3 Terminal, Indira Gandhi International Airport in November 2015.^[3]

The founder of Nykaa, Falguni Nayar is a former managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital Company.^[4] The company raised money through multiple rounds of funding. In July 2014, it raised INR 20 crore in funding from private investors and raised around INR 60 crore in Series B funding in October 2015 led by TVS Capital. Nykaa closed its last round of funding by raising INR 104.3 crores led by Max I Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Max Ventures and Industries Ltd) post which VC firm Max Ventures and Industries acquired a 2% stake in online cosmetic and wellness brand.^[5]

Nykaa is an e-commerce website offering beauty and wellness products from all the leading brands such as Lakmé, Kaya Skin Clinic, L'Oréal Paris and many more. ^[6][7] Nykaa follows an inventory based model with warehouses in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Chennai as its offline presence is in 35 stores and expanding. It claims to have over 850+ curated brands and 35,000 products. Nykaa's core target audience is the 22–35 age group.^[8] Along with this Nykaa has two offline store formats – Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa On Trend. The Luxe format features Indian and international luxury beauty brands along with Nykaa Beauty, the in-house collection of beauty products. The On Trend format is the first of its kind in the market with products curated by category basis their popularity.^[9] In March 2016, Nykaa introduced private labeled products in the bath and body care category.^[10]

Nykaa launched its collection of in-house beauty products in 2017 .^[11]

Adwaita Nayar, Falguni Nayar's daughter, is the chief operating officer of the offline retail chain. She is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Nihir Parikh is the chief business officer for the Ecommerce Business at Nykaa; he is an alumnus of INSEAD and Stanford University. Sanjay Suri is the chief technology officer. Anchit Nayar is the head of retail. Sachin Parikh is the chief financial officer. Madhavi Irani is the chief content officer. Hitesh Malhotra as the chief marketing officer. Manoj Jaiswal is the chief supply chain officer. At the helm of Nykaa's private label is Reena Chabbra, who has spent over two decades in the beauty industry in India. She worked previously with Lakmé and Kaya Skin Clinic.^[12]

Nykaa collaborated with Femina to host the ‘Nykaa.com Femina Beauty Awards’ in 2015 and 2016. The award function was created to highlight the best products and brands in the hair, makeup, fragrance, and skin categories in the Indian market.^[13][14]

Nykaa raised funds for Project Nanhi Kali on International Women's Day, 2015. Project Nanhi Kali is an Indian NGO that provides primary education for underprivileged girls in India.^[15]

Business Today featured Nykaa's founder Falguni Nayar in The Most Powerful Women in Business 2017.^[16] Nayar also won the ‘Woman Ahead’ award at the Economic Times Startup Awards 2017. ^[17]

Nykaa has been a partner with Femina since 2014 in presenting Femina Beauty Awards for beauty products based on votes from Nykaa's customers and Femina's readers. ^[18]