Mensa Brands, an e-commerce roll-up company, has received $40 million from EvolutionX in a debt round. This is the Bengaluru-based company’s second debt financing round of the year, and it comes as its international peer Thrasio considers declaring bankruptcy.
According to a press release from the business, the money will be used for marketing and investments in technology to enhance operations.
Mensa became one of the quickest Indian startups to achieve unicorn status in February after raising $135 million in equity funding at a valuation of more than $1 billion and receiving Rs 300 crore in debt from TradeCred. TheKredible, a startup data intelligence platform, reports that it has received more than $280 million in funding thus far from investors such as Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Prosus Ventures, and Tiger Global.
Mensa collaborates with, invests in, and scales digital-first businesses in the food, home and garden, apparel, beauty and personal care industries. The business asserts to have collaborated with over 25 brands. It also has offices in the US and the United Arab Emirates. It claims to have served more than 10 million clients.
Additionally, for an undisclosed sum, it purchased MensXP, iDiva, and Hypp from Times Internet in the previous year.
In its first year of operations in FY22, Mensa Brands brought in $41.36 million (roughly Rs 310 crore) in revenue, according to TheKredible. It revealed a $16.41 million loss for the fiscal year. Despite not having yet submitted its FY23 financials, the company asserts that its prior fiscal years were profitable.
Mensa, led by former Myntra and Medlife CEO Ananth Narayanan, competes directly with GlobalBees, Goat Brand Labs, Evenflow, UpScalio, 10club, and Powerhouse91. In December 2021, GlobalBees, the second unicorn in the e-commerce space, raised its final round of funding.
