This news story was filed on 30th December 2021. We’ve updated this article with updated and latest information received to Techpluto staff on 1st January 2022.
D2C brand Mamaearth has raised nearly $80 Mn in a new funding round led by existing investor Sequoia Capital and slew of other existing investors, according to news portal Entrackr. Other existing investors Sofina and Evolvence Fund also took part in the round.
This news has now been confirmed by Mamaearth’s parent company Honasa Consumer Pvt Ltd.. The company also said in its official press release that the latest round will give its employees an opportunity to monetize their vested ESOPs. However, the company has not shed much information on this matter.
Following the latest report, Mamaearth’s valuation has now breached $1 Bn and now commands a market valuation of $1.2 Bn. It is now officially the first unicorn of the year 2022.
Commenting on this, Varun Alagh, Co-Founder and CEO, Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. said, “We have been on a constant quest to becoming a company that is the first choice of evolving Indian millennials in the beauty and personal care segment. Our flagship brand, Mamaearth has established itself as a leader in D2C personal care with a strong purpose of Goodness Inside. “
“Looking at the scale of Mamaearth and success of The Derma Co., we are confident that we have the expertise to build brands with a millennial connect. We will be deploying the funds towards brand launches, expanding distribution, inorganic growth and expanding the current portfolio across borders. Sequoia, Sofina and Evolvence have unique strengths in US, Europe & GCC respectively which will help us grow internationally & learn from others in these markets.”
The five year old startup also stands out for its rare distention of being one of the few unicorn startups to be co-led by a woman co-founder. The name of Mamaearth’s co-founder is Ghazal Alagh, who is supposedly the wife of Varun Alagh.
The company started its journey in 2016 by initially selling only baby care products. Later on, it steadily graduated to selling wide range of personal and beauty care products.
The latest funding has come on back of its recently acquisition move, acquiring women focused content platform Momspresso only couple of days back.
Apart from Sequoia Capital India, it counts several high profile and marquee investors like Stellaris Ventures, Fireside ventures, Marcio’s Rishabh Mariwala, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal among others.
Mamaearth competes with big names and heavily funded companies like Nykaa, Sugar Cosmetics, Plum, Pruple and others.
Notably, 2021 has proved to be an exceptional year for the D2C brands with Nykaa making a bumper IPO debut and Sugar & Pruple recently raising big ticket funding rounds.