VCCircle

Asit Koticha of ASK Group has made an early stage investment in a high-end beauty salon, VC Circle has learned. Kotecha, the owner of the Mumbai-based institutional stock broking and financial services group, has invested an undisclosed sum in the Indian franchisee of Jean Claude Biguine (JCB), a leading French beauty house with 350 salons and spas spanning across 17 countries.
JCB has some 4000 stylists worldwide servicing over 18,000 customers daily. The company is set to start its first outlet in Mumbai next month. It plans to set up outlets in other metros too.
Strides International, a Mumbai-based boutique strategic and financial advisory firm, were the lead advisors on this transaction.
Asit Kotecha is believed to be a private equity investor too, besides running ASK Securities and ASK Financial. They had recently bought out US financial services company Raymaond James from their Indian joint venture ASK Raymond James