Mensa Brands, an e-commerce rollup firm launched by former Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, has raised a Series B funding of $135 million led by Alpha Wave Ventures, a growth-stage fund, which is a part of US investment firm Falcon Edge.
Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers) came in as a new investor in the round. All of Mensa’s existing investors such as Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global Management, participated too.
The investment takes the company into the coveted unicorn status, a term referred for start-ups that reach the valuation of $1 billion. The six-month start-up becomes India’s fastest unicorn and the first e-commerce brand aggregator to become a unicorn. The company has raised over $300 million in equity and debt so far.
Mensa is one of the start-ups in the emerging e-commerce brand rollup or aggregation business that gained momentum after the phenomenal growth of $10 billion valued Thrasio in the US that aggregates successful brands on Amazon.
The Bengaluru-based start-up acquires majority stakes (60-80 per cent) in digital-first brands across fashion, beauty, personal care and home furnishings and décor. It works closely with founding teams to accelerate growth on e-commerce marketplaces, through the brand's websites, and global platforms by using a combination of initiatives across product, pricing, marketing, distribution, and brand building with a technology platform at the core.
“We are trying to be the global tech-led house of brands. We are not Thrasio. The categories are different. Thrasio is a single platform play, we are always going to be platform-neutral. We want to build global brands out of India,” Narayanan told Business Today.
The company has partnered with 12 brands, 20 are in the pipeline. Narayanan said a majority of its brands are growing at 100 per cent year-on-year since their integration with Mensa.
The partner brands include Karagiri, a high-end, designer sarees; Priyaasi, a traditional and contemporary jewellery brand, Villain, a men’s fragrance brand; Dennis Lingo, a men's casual wear brand; Ishin and Anubhutee, both women's ethnic wear brands.
“Mensa demonstrates a tangible uplift through a combination of product and pricing optimisation, technology-led process improvement, distribution and marketing augmentation and fine-tuning the supply chain. These levers meaningfully accelerate the growth and margin trajectory of the brands and make them well-poised to become category leaders,” Navroz Udwadia, Co-Founder and Partner Falcon Edge Capital said in a statement.
Mensa has taken four of its brands globally across the US, Middle East, UK, and Southeast Asia markets where it features its products on e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Zalora, and Namshi. Global markets account for about 20 per cent of its revenues. About 10 per cent of the revenue comes from its D2C channels.
“We are a brand play, not a platform play. We are not burning money. We are making money. We paid advance tax in the first quarter. Therefore, the money is going to be used for strengthening our team. We are hiring across teams. A bulk of the money will continue to invest in new brands,” Narayanan said.
Also Read: Did Myntra's falling revenue lead to management rejig?
Also Read: Myntra's Amar Nagaram steps down as CEO after 3 years, plans to launch his own venture