Here is the news that Mensa convert Asia’s fastest unicorn Mensa Brands Company Net Worth $180B Markets in India| New Unicorn after raising $135 mn said Ananth
Mensa Brands, a technology-led ‘House of Brands’ built for the e-commerce industry, has raised Series B funding of $135 million, led by Alpha Wave Ventures-Falcon Edge Capital with participation from all existing investors – Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Tiger Global Management. Proses Ventures (Naspers) also invested in Mensa in this latest funding round.
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Within six months of starting the business, Bengaluru-based Mensa has raised a total of more than $300 million in equity and debt. The firm has been valued at over $1 billion in the latest round of funding, making it the newest member of the coveted unicorn club and it has become Asia’s fastest firm to reach such status. US shopping site Jet.com holds the unicorn speed record – its $1 billion valuations occurred just 4 months after the company was founded. Mensa is the 36th startup to achieve unicorn status in 2021 in India.
“Our deep focus on technology and digital brand building, as well as our people, has allowed us to grow three times our initial plan and we, at Mensa Brands, are primed to build global breakout brands from India. I am especially proud that more than 50 percent of our brands are led by women founders and that Mensa supports small and medium-sized businesses across the country,” Narayanan said.
Mensa, which said it is profitable, has raised over $300 million in equity or debt so far. Debt is a key tool to acquire companies since it is cheaper than equity.
Mensa is among the best-funded players in the eCommerce rollup space in India, competing with GlobalBees, Upscalio, and GOAT Brand Labs. GlobalBees is also in talks to raise funds.
“Mensa demonstrates a tangible uplift through a combination of product and pricing optimization, 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,” said Navroz Udwadia, co-founder and partner at Falcon Edge Capital.
E-commerce rollup platforms in India inspired by the famed Thrasio model have continued to mop up fresh investment. After raising $50 million in a mix of debt and equity round, Mensa Brands has closed another $33 million from four existing investors.
Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Norwest co-led this new round with $11 million each whereas Accel has put in $10 million, Mensa Brands’ regulatory filings in Singapore show.
Singapore-based late-stage investment firm Gablehorn Investments has invested $1 million in the six-month-old venture. Bergwelt, which represents the co-founders along with a few others’ stake in Mensa Brands, has also participated in this round with $580K.
The fresh money has come at a time when Mensa Brands is in late-stage conversations to raise a large round from Tiger Global, according to two sources familiar with the talks.
“Tiger is likely to put over $60 million in Mensa Brands,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The contours of the deal is almost final and if nothing goes wrong from here Tiger’s money will hit the company’s account soon.”
Tiger Global’s co-founder Scott Shleifer is already a stakeholder in Mensa Brands. He had invested $400K in the company’s first institutional round.
Earlier this month, a Moneycontrol report also said that Mensa is in talks with Tiger Global to raise a new round.
Mensa has declined to offer comment for the story while queries sent to Tiger didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story if they respond. Here is the news that Mensa convert Asia’s fastest unicorn after raising $135 mn said Ananth
funding details :
Founders : Ananth Narayanan, Aniket Nikumb, Pawan Kumar Dasaraju
place: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| funding date | series round | funding raise | Main Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | Series B | $135M | Falcon Edge Capital |
| Aug 2021 | Series A | $33M | Alpha Wave Incubation, Norwest Venture Partners |
| May 2021 | Series A | $50M | Accel, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners |
| May 2021 | Debt Financing | — | Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital |