Good Glamm delays paying salaries again amid cash crunch

Time of India

4 days ago

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Beauty products and content company Good Glamm Group , which is grappling with a cash crunch and seeking to raise capital at a significantly marked-down valuation, has delayed employee salaries for the second consecutive month, people familiar with the matter told ET.The company had earlier informed employees that their April pay would be disbursed along with the salary for May in June. However, as of June 3, salaries have not been credited, and there has been no communication so far from the management on the delay.Additionally, full and final settlements for former employees have also not been cleared, leaving both current and ex-staff under significant financial strain. 'April and May salaries were supposed to come together, but that doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. At this point, it's obvious to everyone that it's because of funding. Good Glamm Group was under the impression that funding would arrive in January, and it has been delayed since then,' an employee told ET on condition of anonymity.Babita Bharati, who worked as a freelance copywriter for Good Glamm's portfolio brand The Moms Co in March and April, took to LinkedIn to share screenshots alleging she is yet to receive her full payment of Rs 18,100. 'They are waiting for investor funding to clear dues. It just shows how bad things are. Every time I emailed someone, they had already left the company—even my point of contact,' she told ET.The Mumbai-based company has been selling or exploring the sale of several portfolio brands in a bid to maintain liquidity and keep operations running during this turbulent period.According to one person aware of the developments, Good Glamm is evaluating the sale of its stake in personal care brand Organic Harvest back to the brand's founders. However, the company continues to struggle meeting expenses.The uncertainty has also triggered a wave of employee exits. The latest high-profile departure came when Kartik Rao, the group's former chief people officer and a board member at WYN Beauty (a joint venture with Serena Williams), left to join AI-driven recruitment platform Vahan. ai Good Glamm declined to comment on ET's queries.As part of its cost-cutting measures, the company shut down its Vasant Kunj office in New Delhi earlier this year. Operations temporarily moved to a location in Greater Kailash, but employees are now working remotely, one staffer confirmed.On April 11, ET reported that the company is in advanced talks to sell its media and influencer talent management arm, MissMalini Entertainment, to marketing agency Creativefuel.In February, Good Glamm sold feminine hygiene brand Sirona back to its original founders for around Rs 150 crore—well below the Rs 450 crore it had paid to acquire the brand. It also offloaded digital media subsidiary ScoopWhoop to Bengaluru-based meme marketing agency WLDD at a valuation of Rs 18–20 crore, a fraction of the Rs 100 crore it paid in 2021.The company has also explored selling stakes in other assets, including personal care brand The Moms Co and content platform POPxo.On January 29, representatives from investment firms Accel, Prosus Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners resigned from the company's board In March 2024, Good Glamm raised $30 million in a flat round from existing investors, including Warburg Pincus, Prosus Ventures, Bessemer, and Accel. The funding was intended to support working capital needs and bridge a larger round that is yet to materialise.Good Glamm was formed in 2021 through the merger of Darpan Sanghvi's MyGlamm, Priyanka Gill's POPxo, and Naiyya Saggi's BabyChakra.Over the past year, the company has witnessed a string of high-profile exits. In May 2024, Sukhleen Aneja, the chief executive of The Good Brands (Good Glamm's D2C vertical), left to join beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa. Gill became a venture partner at Kalaari Capital before launching her own lab-grown diamond brand, Coluxe, while Saggi is starting a new consumer electronics venture.