Ananth Narayanan, famous for founding Myntra, has reportedly formed a new company Mensa Brands, based on the model of American digital consumer goods venture Thrasio. Mensa Brands has reportedly raised a Series A funding of USD 50 million from Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Accel Partners.

Also, angel investors like Mukesh Bansal, founder of Curefit, Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, Scott Shleifer, partner at Tiger Global, and Rahul Mehta, managing partner of DST Global were involved in this round. This funding round also consisted of debt financing from debt funds like InnoVen Capital and Alteria Capital.

Based on the business model of Thrasio, the company plans to scale the digital-first brands by establishing partnerships with them and making investments in their businesses.

Thrasio is a renowned startup that finds bestselling and highly-rated products on Amazon and buys out the company linked to that product. After this, it inculcates these brands onto its operating platform and helps them in upscaling their businesses.

The US-based company has been in business for just three years, but its rapid rate of success has assured investors of its potential. Narayanan is not the first Indian entrepreneur who has tried replicating this business model for the domestic market.

Tiger Global has reportedly held talks to financially assist Goat Brands Labs, a startup founded by Rishi Vasudev, which has plans to acquire and expand lifestyle brands. Meanwhile, Firstcry is also planning to launch an investment venture based on the Thrasio business model. The venture, termed Global Bees, will buy and upscale standalone brands selling products online.

Mensa Brands, if given the opportunity, has plans to obtain 50 brands over the next three years across categories like garden, home, personal care, apparel, and beauty.

CEO and founder of Mensa, Narayanan has apparently stated that the startup plans to look out for profitable companies that are capable of crossing annual revenues in the range of INR 7 crore to INR 70 crore.

Source Credits:

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/startup/thrasio-type-startup-mensa-brands-raises-50-million-from-accel-falcon-and-others-6964401.html