A shared passion for makeup and beauty brands, along with the desire to provide affordable yet high-quality products, led to the existence of Recode Studios. Founded by a crew of experienced cosmetic experts committed to delivering excellent products in the industry in 2018, the brand is constantly expanding. Dheeraj Bansal, Rahul Sachdeva, Neetu Bansal, Preeti Trehan, Shalini Trehan, and Shelly Bansal are the co-founders of Recode Studios.
Recode Studios: The origin story
Recode Studios started as a make-up brand and slowly evolved. It became an online marketplace delivering cosmetic products from more than 60 brands. The brand has a partnership with more than 300 offline stores while establishing its franchise stores in Faridabad, Delhi, and Raipur. It has an Amazon presence and sells products through its own website and mobile app across India.
When the brand initially started, it launched with the must-have cosmetic essentials such as lipsticks, nail polish, kajal, and eyeliner. The primary goal was to capture the middle-class market segment that loves premium products but is unable to afford them. Affordability played a significant role in the increasing popularity of the brand.
Pandemic strikes and the brand is re-born!
However, the decision to become an online marketplace selling cosmetic products was not a strategic one. Pure need and desperation to handle severe financial losses led to this shift. The pandemic had affected the brand in an unanticipated way which led to them selling off products with near expiry dates at a ₹1 flash sale.
The “Shark Tank” moment
On one of the most memorable episodes of Shark Tank India Season 2, Recode Studios made an impact. The beauty brand failed to receive the funding but gained much more than that. Soon after the episode aired, the brand was trending heavily on social media platforms. Co-founder Dheeraj Bansal says even though the brand didn’t get any investment, it “got virality and support from social media.”
Revenue & future plans
Recode Studios earned net sales worth ₹15 crores with ₹48 lakhs worth of net profit for FY22. The brand has a target of attaining ₹30 crores in revenue for FY23. The future plans of Recode Studio seem well-set, with Dheeraj Bansal saying, “looking to create a marketplace as well as a brand. On the marketplace side, some brands like Baidyanath have already approached us.”
Despite not receiving funding from the Sharks, Recode Studios has managed to make its presence known in every part of India. That is an exemplary inspiration for other startups!
