October 5, 2023
EvolutionX Debt Capital Announces Investment in Mensa (India’s largest digital House of Brands)
Mensa Brands, India’s largest digital House of Brands, has secured $40m in growth capital from EvolutionX Debt Capital through a combination of debt facility and convertible investment. With this fresh funding, Mensa Brands plans to continue investing in brand building, driven by strong capabilities across technology, operations, and marketing. Mensa brands owns and operates several consumer- loved including Pebble (top 5 smart wearables and audio), MyFitness (top peanut butter), Dennis Lingo (leading men’s lifestyle and apparel) and Villain (unique perfume and personal care).
In November 2021, Mensa Brands raised $135 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion, making it the fastest Indian start-up to reach unicorn status. Mensa Brands has raised $200million in equity from marquee global investors including Accel Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Prosus,Ventures and Tiger Global Management. It has also secured debt financing from Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, Stride Ventures, and TradeCred.
Ananth Narayanan, Founder & CEO of Mensa Brands commented, “We are excited to partner with long-term marquee investors like EvolutionX. In the last 2 years, we have profitably scaled more than 20 brands across beauty & FMCG, fashion, home and consumer electronics. We plan to use this new funding to continue building consumer-loved brands for the next-generation of India.”
Rahul Shah, Partner of EvolutionX Debt Capital: “We are excited to partner with Mensa as the company continues to scale revenues and margins of digital-first consumer brands by leveraging technology along with brand building activities. Mensa has proven its execution capabilities with 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.”
About Mensa Brands
Mensa Brands operates over 20 consumer-brands across fashion, beauty and home with aim to build global digital-first brands from India by leveraging technology. The team is led by the Founder and CEO, Ananth Narayanan, who was previously the CEO of Myntra and Medlife and a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company.