What’s in a name? In the case of Karishma Singh’s beauty app Kult, the name is a premonition — it hints at the cult of personality or the figure in the background pulling the strings.

Of course, for anyone who has seen the journey of the Indian startup ecosystem up front through the past decade, this figure is anything but shadowy. Rahul Yadav, the spouse of Karishma Singh, is in the thick of things once again.

Yadav’s gravity and tainted reputation after the Housing.com and Broker Network debacle pushed Kult far from its orbit into a catastrophic situation.

Even as Kult claimed a $20 Mn infusion supposedly from M3M family office and Venture Catalysts last week, Inc42’s investigation has uncovered many gaps in the Kult story, as well as allegations of Yadav using Kult to move funds around for business associates.

Indeed, as we will see in this deep dive into Kult, the startup was deeply influenced by the course of Info Edge-backed Broker Network.

The Kult Collapse

Having launched operations in 2022, Kult quickly built up a loyal audience with the lure of heavily discounted products. The first two years saw the company grow its user base beyond 4 Lakh, and at one point, Singh claimed that the beauty marketplace was doing 40,000 orders per month.

But sources allege this was only possible because of Kult’s involvement in the web of companies allegedly at the centre of the Rahul Yadav and Broker Network saga during 2022 to 2024.

Just as the Economic Offences Wing investigation into Broker Network began in 2023, Kult’s growth story crumbled. It suddenly found itself without the funds needed to purchase inventory and its splurging on employees, perks, shoots and models stopped.

Beauty giants such as Estee Lauder, Huda Beauty and numerous smaller D2C brands and creator-led businesses were left with unpaid dues from Kult. Key employees who were promised hefty bonuses and variable pay for meeting targets were also left in the lurch, and salaries have not been paid for months.

Worse, the company had not paid its income tax dues for employees, leaving them exposed to potential legal action from the tax authorities. Overall, Kult owed more than INR 40 Cr across all these dues.

So when it announced a $20 Mn infusion last week, the brands, vendors, employees and everyone else Kult owed money should have rejoiced.

But as it turns out, Kult is not just a beauty app. It’s akin to a smoke-and-mirrors game or a set of matryoshka dolls or an onion with numerous layers.

These are not analogies that typically live together, but in the case of Kult, all three are equally applicable. To understand this, we need to get deeper into the origin.

Through information received from sources that worked directly with Karishma Singh and Rahul Yadav, as well as documents pertaining to Kult’s fundraise plans and audits, Inc42 is now able to present an even clearer picture connecting these companies.

At the heart of it all is Rahul Yadav’s RY Management LLP (formerly known as RY Advisory LLP), which seems to be the bridge connecting Broker Network and Kult.

Kult’s Nested Doll House

One might find it odd to talk about history when Kult is just three years old in terms of operations, but this is not a story of one company. Kult was actually set for launch in 2017 when Karishma Singh incorporated Kult Cosmetics Private Limited (known as Kult Cosmetics).

Unfortunately for Singh, that launch never happened. She told Inc42 last week that it had been her personal dream to launch an innovative beauty platform that actually disrupted through tech and not just discounts or SKUs.

In fact, in May 2021, Kult Cosmetics Private Limited was officially renamed to Aceuser Private Limited. Incidentally, this was six months after the incorporation of Broker Network through 4B Networks Private Limited. But Karishma Singh and Devesh Singh also incorporated Kult App Private Limited (called Kult App) just a few days before Aceuser came into the picture.

Aceuser Private Limited, as we reported in 2023, is very likely a link in the alleged embezzlement and fraud being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), with Rahul Yadav, Karishma Singh’s brother Devesh Singh and their business associate Pratik Choudhary being named as accused.

So the first stint for Kult from 2017 to 2021 was one that never happened.

It was only after 2021 that the app began operations. This can be called the Kult 2.0 phase, till a third company was spawned by Karishma Singh and Devesh Singh in 2024 — Kult E-commerce Private Limited (Kult Ecommerce, phew!).

This most recently incorporated company claimed to have raised $20 Mn from the M3M family office and Venture........

© Inc42