The Belgian family de Spoelberch, one of the major shareholders in AB InBev, has taken an interest in Purplle, an online seller of cosmetics and makeup from India, through its investment company Verlinvest. AB InBev is also experimenting with cannabis.
Capital round
Verlinvest, Goldman Sachs and the existing shareholders (Blume Ventures, IvyCap Ventures and JSW Ventures) have put some forty million euros of fresh capital into the Indian cosmetics platform. Purplle sells make-up and cosmetics online, as well as providing advice through short instructional videos. Its main competitors are Nykaa, Plum and Sugar Cosmetics.
According to Belgian newspaper De Tijd, Verlinvest has already made a whole range of investments in India. One of its more successful participations was in the learning app Byju, which is now worth billions. The investment company is also a shareholder in XSEED Education (educational technology), Drums Food (yoghurts) and Veeba (spices).
Cannabis
AB InBev itself, meanwhile, is continuing to diversify and is soon to sell cannabis tea. Labatt, a Canadian subsidiary of the beer giant, is scheduled to launch some teas that also contain extracts from the cannabis plant. The company is collaborating with Tilray, a producer of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Labatt and Tilray have both invested fifty million dollars in the project, Reuters reports. The new varieties of tea will only be sold in Canada for the time being: currently, this is one of the few countries where the recreational use of cannabis is completely legal.
