IPO-bound Mamaearth's investors: Know what Shilpa Shetty, Snapdeal co-founders, Mariwala scion invested

Honasa Consumer Private Ltd, which owns personal care and beauty products brand like Mamaearth and The Derma Co, has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 400 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 4,68,19,635 equity shares by promoters, investors and other selling shareholders, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).

According to the DRHP, several investors will be exiting the company through the OFS, including angel investors like actor Shilpa Shetty, Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and Rishabh Mariwala, a venture capitalist and son of Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala. VC firms like Fireside Ventures, Sofina, and Stellaris will also be exiting through the OFS.

Shilpa Shetty is known for investing in start-ups. Apart from Mamaearth, she has invested in companies such as Fast & Up, Chicnutrix, Hunar Online, and more.

Business Today collated data to give a sneak peek into the investments made by the investors:

The Gurugram-based beauty and personal care company's first ever fundraising round was by Fireside in 2017, a year after its launch. The subsequent years saw Shetty, and even Sequoia Capital India coming on board as investors. Fireside Ventures is an early-stage investment start-up, which was started in 2017. It is helmed by Kawaljit Singh, Vinay Singh, Kannan Sitaram and Dipanjan Basu. The fund is currently managing an assets under management of Rs 3,000 crore and is known for investing in new-age brands such as Vahdam, Slurrp Farm, Kapiva, 91 Cycles, Design Café, FS Life (erstwhile FableStreet), The Sleep Company, Gynoveda, Wellbeing Nutrition and Pilgrim. It is also an investor in iconic D2C lifestyle brand, boAt.

BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, Sequoia, SCI Investments will not be making an exit from the new-age FMCG brand.

Mamaearth has a portfolio of six brands of which BBlunt, Momspresso, and Dr Sheth’s have been acquired. The company gets its products contractually manufactured and sells its products through online and offline channels. The company crossed Rs 100 crore revenue-mark in FY20. Currently, the DRHP suggests, its turnover is about Rs 722 crore till September 30, 2022.

Within this market, Mamaearth competes with the likes of Plum, Nykaa, The Good Glamm Group and Sugar Cosmetics. Nykaa made its stock market debut last year.

The net proceeds from the IPO would be utilised towards advertising expenses to improve awareness and brand visibility, setting up new exclusive brand outlets, investment in its subsidiary BBlunt for setting up new salons, general corporate purposes and inorganic acquisition.

In an interview with Business Today earlier, Mamaearth’s co-founder and CEO Varun Alagh said, “Our gross profitability metrics are very healthy. And, if we were to compare it to the listed FMCG peers, we'll probably be in the top five per cent quartile of the set from a gross profitability profile perspective.”