Ritesh Agarwal Backs Beauty Quick-Commerce Startup Dazzl in $3.2 Million Seed Round

India’s quick-commerce wave is no longer limited to groceries and essentials. It is now knocking on the doors of personal care — and investors are paying close attention.

In a strong signal of how fast consumer expectations are evolving, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO of PRISM (formerly OYO), has joined the $3.2 million seed funding round of Dazzl, an on-demand beauty and wellness services startup that promises at-home services in as little as 10 minutes.

The seed round, led by Stellaris Venture Partners, marks Dazzl’s first institutional fundraise and brings together a notable group of founders, operators, and ecosystem veterans who have built and scaled some of India’s most recognisable consumer and logistics businesses.

A founder-heavy cap table signals confidence

Alongside Agarwal, the round saw participation from former OYO executives Maninder Gulati and Abhinav Sinha, Shadowfax co-founder and CEO Abhishek Bansal, and Sameer Brij Verma, founder of Northpoint Capital and former managing director and partner at Nexus Venture Partners.

For Dazzl, the backing is more than just capital. It brings strategic insight from operators who understand hyperlocal execution, rapid scale, and consumer-led marketplaces — capabilities that will be critical as the startup attempts to redefine how beauty and wellness services are consumed in urban India.

Reimagining beauty services for the age of immediacy

Founded by Komal Solanki, an IIT Delhi and Harvard Business School alum, and Ashish Bajpai, an IIT Kanpur graduate, Dazzl operates at the intersection of convenience, speed, and personal care.

The startup offers at-home beauty and wellness services without requiring advance appointments — a sharp departure from traditional salon bookings and aggregator-led models. With delivery times of as little as 10 minutes, Dazzl is positioning itself as a “quick-commerce platform for services,” mirroring the instant gratification consumers have come to expect from food delivery and grocery apps.

This shift reflects a broader behavioural change in Indian consumers, especially in metro cities, where convenience increasingly outweighs planning.

Where the money will go

Dazzl says the fresh capital will be deployed to validate and scale its consumer proposition across select micro-markets in Bengaluru, its first focus city. The company plans to invest heavily in hyperlocal operations, robust go-to-market playbooks, core technology infrastructure, and training systems for service professionals.

Rather than chasing rapid nationwide expansion, the startup is prioritising depth over breadth — a strategy that reflects lessons learned from earlier consumer-tech cycles.

“Over the next 12 months, we plan to expand across Bengaluru and demonstrate strong consumer adoption and repeat usage across clusters,” said Bajpai, co-founder and chief operating officer of Dazzl. “Our focus is on building a repeatable technology and operations playbook that enables disciplined expansion across new cities.”

Why investors are betting on Dazzl

According to Naman Lahoty, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, the investment thesis is rooted in a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour.

“Consumer behaviour is increasingly shifting towards immediacy — and that shift is extending from products to services,” Lahoty said. “Dazzl is building a new operating model for beauty and wellness that is designed for speed, reliability, and everyday use.”

The beauty and wellness market in India remains large, fragmented, and underpenetrated by tech-led service platforms. While several players have tried to digitise salon bookings or offer scheduled at-home services, few have cracked the challenge of combining speed, quality, and operational efficiency at scale.

A glimpse into the future of services

Ritesh Agarwal’s participation in the round is particularly notable. Having built OYO into one of India’s most recognisable consumer brands by standardising a fragmented supply base, his bet on Dazzl underscores a familiar pattern — technology-led aggregation paired with operational discipline.

If Dazzl succeeds, it could reshape how urban Indians think about beauty and wellness — not as an occasional, planned indulgence, but as an on-demand, everyday service delivered at the tap of a button.

For now, the Bengaluru-based startup is focused on getting the fundamentals right. But with a strong investor lineup and a model aligned with evolving consumer expectations, Dazzl’s journey will be closely watched across India’s startup ecosystem.

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