$20M Raised to Bring AI-Powered Beauty to India

India’s beauty scene is booming — and Kult wants to make sure it’s not just about bold lipstick and big promises. The tech-first beauty platform just locked in a hefty $20 million Series A funding round to supercharge its mission to make shopping for skincare actually make sense.

The funding, led by Payal Kanodia and Aishwarya Bansal from the M3M family office, along with Venture Catalysts, will help Kult expand its catalogue, ramp up operations, and go head-to-head with the world’s biggest beauty platforms — all with a uniquely Indian twist.

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Founded by Karishma Singh and Ruchika Pallavi, Kult is not your average beauty e-store. It’s built around an AI-powered platform that personalises product recommendations using a visual catalogue designed specifically for diverse Indian skin tones. Backed by over 300 beauty experts worldwide, Kult combines tech, data, and human insight to create a shopping experience that’s smart, not stressful.

“We have built Kult to be a technology-first solution that makes beauty easier to navigate and more inclusive for Indian users,” said Singh and Pallavi. “This is about simplifying discovery through personalisation — because beauty should work for you, not the other way around.”

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And they’re not stopping at curation. With this new funding, Kult plans to onboard 700+ premium global brands, scale up to 10,000 orders a day, and grow its team to over 200 experts across sourcing, engineering, product dev, and UX.

Investors are clearly on board with the vision. “Kult’s data-driven, customer-first, tech-led model signals the next evolution in the online beauty space—where deep personalisation and human insight converge,” said Payal Kanodia.

Aishwarya Bansal echoed the sentiment: “Kult is uniquely positioned at the intersection of beauty and technology. What drew me in was the clarity of purpose — to create a platform that doesn’t just sell products, but helps consumers make informed, confident choices.”

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And there’s a huge market at play. India’s beauty and personal care (BPC) market is on track to hit $30 billion by 2027, with $10 billion coming from online sales alone. In other words: if you’re not using tech to help people shop smarter, you’re already behind.

Kult’s approach feels less like another flashy beauty brand and more like the Spotify algorithm of skincare — learning your habits, studying your skin, and serving up products that actually suit you.

And honestly? That’s a glow-up we can get behind.