New-age beauty brands post revenue surges

Beauty and wellness companies launching innovative products have seen impressive sales increases in the 2026 financial year, with some seeing sales figures double or even triple. Their success stems from offering specialized solutions and adopting fresh promotional strategies, particularly through influencer-driven social media initiatives aimed at younger buyers.

Foxtale’s earnings surged to ₹383 crore in FY26, up from ₹199 crore the previous year, based on regulatory filings. Meanwhile, L’Oreal’s recently acquired Innovist saw its revenue climb nearly threefold to ₹686 crore, while Dot & Key, owned by Nykaa, also doubled its income to ₹799 crore.

Sources close to Innovist’s operations revealed its monthly sales jumped 50% compared to last year during the June-to-September period. Pilgrim’s annual revenue rose 69% to ₹690 crore for the year ending March 31, while Deconstruct’s figures increased 32% to ₹168 crore.

The strong growth for these relatively newer brands comes when several early-generation D2C brands are facing challenges of scaling at a more mature stage of their businesses. Industry executives and analysts attributed this slower growth to a lack of product innovation amid intense competition.

Romita Mazumdar, founder of Z47-backed Foxtale, said the focus is on having limited products and variants and generating high revenue per item. “We didn’t launch too many products throughout the year. Instead, we’ve continued to build trust in the products that built the brand in the first place,” she said.

Deconstruct’s founder, Malini Adapureddy, explains the brand’s focus remains solely on sunscreen rather than chasing fleeting trends. She highlights expanding demand beyond major cities, where tier-II and tier-III consumers now engage with the same digital content as urban shoppers.

New-age D2C brands are capturing demand by focusing on niche segments and solving specific consumer problems, while larger mass-market brands may not be growing as fast, said Ashish Dhir, senior director at market intelligence firm 1Lattice. They are achieving this by concentrating on particular areas of the market.

One of the relatively older brands, Sugar Cosmetics, which was founded in 2015, is estimated to have posted revenue of ₹300-350 crore in FY26, down from ₹404 crore in FY25 and ₹505 crore in FY24. This decline indicates that some established brands are struggling to maintain their growth rates.