Tiger Global-backed Mensa Brands, which acquires fashion, home, and personal care labels, on Thursday, said it has raised $40 million in growth capital from Temasek- and DBS-backed venture debt firm EvolutionX Debt.
The capital raising is through a combination of debt facility and convertible investment.
Led by CEO Ananth Narayanan, former CEO of Walmart’s Indian online fashion unit Myntra, Mensa Brands became a unicorn in 2021 after raising $135 million in a Series B funding round that helped it enter the club just six months after starting operations.
Mensa Brands is backed by investors including Tiger Global, Accel, Falcon Edge Capital, and Prosus. The latest round comes eight months after it raised $37 million in venture debt from TradeCred. Earlier this year, the firm acquired MensXP, iDiva, And Hypp From Times Internet. Early last year, the firm also invested in a homegrown online gardening solutions brand TrustBasket.
Mensa has 20 brands across the fashion, home, beauty and FMCG sectors, including Dennis Lingo, Villain, Pebble, and MyFitness. According to media reports, the company reported revenues of $41.2 million in FY22, its first year of operations.
Mensa Brands has raised $200 million in equity from global investors including Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global Management.
“In the last 2 years, we have profitably scaled more than 20 brands across beauty & FMCG, fashion, home and consumer electronics,” Narayanan said.
With the newly raised funding, the company said it plans to continue investing in brand building, driven by strong capabilities across technology, operations, and marketing.
“Mensa has proven its execution capabilities with the successful acquisition of multiple brands, and we look forward to supporting the company’s journey as it continues to grow its brands both in domestic and international markets. With this investment, we continue our strategy to invest in category-leading growth stage tech companies in Asia.” Rahul Shah, Partner of EvolutionX Debt Capital.
Last year, Shah told DealStreetAsia in an interview that EvolutionX expects to do more deals in India next year as demand for debt financing continues to rise.
Mensa Brands’ debt funding comes at a time when debt continues to be a viable alternative to equity funding amid the prolonged funding winter.
Debt infusion into Indian startups stood at $206.2 million in 2022. While this was 25% below the peak of $277.3 million seen in 2021, it more than doubled from $91.7 million in 2020, according to data from Tracxn.